Comments on: Paul Collingwood – an England professional

By: dandy dan

dandy dan — Thu, 26 Dec 2013 19:42:01 +0000

Errrr, I’m not sure where I was when you first posted this but I wholeheartedly agree.

Colly was by far and away my favourite cricketer in the last ten years. I’m typing this on my phone in the lobby of a hotel in Goa, so can’t effuse as much as I might. But ask Price. I bang on about colly almost as much as I do about Chris read.

By: KK

KK — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 13:28:52 +0000

Thank you, KC. As a long-time member of the Collingwood fan club, I was waiting for this. I was tired of all that 100 per cent of his ability/brings a lot of intangible qualities to the dressing room bullshit.
I genuinely think he’s a very attractive batsman to watch – the way he clips the ball into the leg side with that precise, minimalist unlocking of his wrists is brilliant to watch and such a pleasure to imitate in the backyard.
It’s different from, say, VVS Laxman’s far more extravagant wrist twirl, but, to me, they’re equally good to watch.
And Colly has always been great at working the spinners around – something most English batsmen, traditionally, aren’t too good at. As someone from India, that makes me like him even more.
When he makes runs against spin, he does so with a variety of deft strokes around the wicket and not, unlike some other genuinely ugly batsmen (Matthew Hayden, anyone?), by sweeping everything in sight.

By: Miriam

Miriam — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 12:16:31 +0000

I really like that celebratory Venn.

By: Mel

Mel — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 18:02:32 +0000

I’m loving all the Colly love emanating from KC – as a fully paid up member of the ginger ninja’s fan club I agree wholeheartedly with every word.

Would you want the likes of KP next to you in the trenches or when under fire in a rain-filled foxhole in the middle of the jungle? ( I watch a lot of war films). No – you’d want Captain Colly, and that’s why he’d be the first name on my team sheet regardless of his current average.

By: brad

brad — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 08:05:50 +0000

colly – not bad for a ginger.

By: pavops

pavops — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 22:28:19 +0000

Sorry. It's me who's a nincompoop. Here's hopefully a live link... http://tinyurl.com/6gdlr2b

By: pavops

pavops — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 22:20:43 +0000

Here v much here. All those “made the best of his limited natural ability” tribs were intensely patronising, treating one of our finest players of the last few years like a toddler who’d managed to get in all in his potty once in a while. The man has been like a yogic panther in the field his whole career and if you can’t see the natural ability of someone who can tell Dale Steyn to fudge off for hours on end and score a double ton off mcG and SKW you are, quite frankly, a nincompoop. That’s not a word I use lightly, either. Now I’ve contributed can sneak in a link to my ENG-AUS 2nd T20I stats preview… http://tinyurl.com/6gdlr2b …? It’s v racy and mentions Mark Lamarr.

By: The Dawg

The Dawg — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 18:15:37 +0000

Paul Collingwood is also cool, which is also relevant when comparing averages.

By: Tony Horne

Tony Horne — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 17:32:14 +0000

Stats will show that Colly contributed bugger all to this Ashes win. That’s why the TV management of stats need to step up a gear and work out how to “factor in” the fielding. You had to admit at times this winter he looked like he was only in the side for his fielding. But thank god he was. Catches like the one off Ponting in an individual match count for far much more than a nurdled 40, and he did this time and time again. Weigh that up and you’ll find yourself talking up a 40 average into a 45 and rightly so. The figures betray that truth.

By: King Cricket

King Cricket — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 16:54:14 +0000

You’ve got to love shades of grey on this website.

As a postscript to Bert’s comment, we’d also add that Collingwood probably saved more than three runs an innings in the field compared to your average fielder.

That would be true solely of his ground fielding, but he also took a handful of catches which cumulatively saved hundreds of runs.

This is relevant if you’re comparing averages.

Which we’re not…