England / South Africa

Paul Collingwood a gritty fighter full of character

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Paul Collingwood is made entirely out of balls. It must be downright murder to walk, eat or do pretty much anything. To get a hundred in what seemed likely to be your last Test innings is one thing. To do it with a six is quite another.

Kevin Pietersen was caught by mid-on trying to reach his hundred with a six. Collingwood learnt from that mistake. The key is to middle it. Whoosh. 100. It was a similar shot to the one that took him to 200 against Australia.

He’s gritty, they say. He’s a fighter. He’s a scrapper. He’s got character. Normally the emphasis is on what’s not being said. He hasn’t got any real talent is the subtext. We’ve all come to hear only that subtext, but after an innings like that you remember that all those adjectives do actually apply.

Hope he shovels a few more runs today.

England v South Africa, third Test at Edgbaston, day one
England 231 all out (Alastair Cook 76, Ian Bell 50, Jacques Kallis 3-31, Andre Nel 3-47)
South Africa 314 all out (Neil McKenzie 72, Jacques Kallis 64, Andrew Flintoff 4-89, James Anderson 3-72, Ryan Sidebottom 3-81)
England 297-6 (Paul Collingwood 101 not out, Kevin Pietersen 94)

Similar deliveries:

Default ThumbnailPaul Collingwood has to go Default ThumbnailAndrew Strauss and Paul Collingwood in partnership Default ThumbnailPaul Collingwood part of a proper England one-day batting line-up

10 comments

  1. I like Paul Collingwood. But if i went on lots of dates, with lots of lovely ladies, i think i would get lucky and enjoy a night of passion at least once. Though that is not to say i am a casanova. Paul Collingwood, getting a hundred after being given a fair few chances, does not mean he is still a top quality test batsmen. I still say get rid of him, at least for the winter tours.

  2. Does this mean he’s now a better batsman than he was two days ago? I still think it was an odd decision to being him back into the side, but fair play to the chap for an outstanding innings under severe pressure.

    Shame he didn’t make hundreds in all his other innings that seemed likely to be his last…

  3. Colingwood has always been a Test quality batsman. He was in terrible form and didn’t look like making runs. Now he’s made some.

    We couldn’t say if he was the best option at number six from now on, but he’s certainly a better bet than he was yesterday morning.

  4. Republique Cricket suggested the Glue Factory – obviously Colly didn’t fancy that. Perhaps this is the goad to which all test failures should be exposed, [the ones who don’t excel when back in their counties anyway]. Except for Mikey who should have a named vat awaiting right now!

  5. I should imagine Yorkshire are praying that Mickey stays at the helm for England – they certainly don’t want him back, their top order is fragile enough as it is.

    Got to say I’m not too keen on “gritty”. HOT is better.

  7. Woah! The long shadow of the Glue Factory – Mikey has run away! Collingwood is obviously still scarred.

  8. Bloody Norah – the shadow of Alien Kev is looming bloody large. I shall have to support Biff Smiff and his saffers then – if you’re going to support a South African test captain, might as well be the one with the brains

  9. No No No! KP is a figment of everyone’s imagination. They will bring in that cool rock and roll dude from Kent won’t they??!

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