Paul Collingwood is a former English cricketer who was born in Shotley Bridge, Durham, on May 26, 1976. Collingwood was a key member of England’s Test, ODI, and T20 teams. From 2007 to 2008, he was the captain of the English One-Day International team.
Collingwood was one of those cricketers whose grace and technique could be praised. He was a right-handed batsman who bowled medium pace for England and played the part of an effective all-rounder.
Collingwood has earned 11,221 runs, averaging 34.52 runs per game. He has also taken 272 wickets at a 33.47 average. He was often considered one of the greatest fielders of his generation.
Background
Collingwood’s illustrious career started at his local cricket club, Shotley Bridge. Durham, his hometown club, signed him in 1995. He was determined to play for Durham, his hometown team, before he had “zero steam.”
In 1996, Collingwood made an impressive first-class debut at the Riverside Ground in Durham against a solid Northamptonshire side.
With his first ball, he took the valuable wicket of former England all-rounder David Capel and went on to score a crucial 91 in his first innings.
However, in each season from 1996 to 2000, his early years as a first-class player were marked by comparatively modest results with the bat and ball.
Debut
In 2001, Collingwood made his One-Day International debut against Pakistan, who had a formidable fast bowling attack. Collingwood received his first test call-up against Sri Lanka in Galle in 2003 after consistent results for the English ODI team.
Collingwood also has the distinction of becoming England’s first-ever T20 International player, having debuted against Australia at the Rose Bowl in 2005.
Rise to glory
For the first two years of his international career, he seemed to be nothing more than a fill-in for the side. In 2005, he struck vital 96 and 80 in Lahore before smashing his brilliant maiden century at Nagpur on a spinning dust bowl.
He became the first English cricketer to score a double century in Australia in 78 years when he scored 206 runs in the 2006-07 Ashes at Adelaide.
Captaincy
Collingwood took over as ODI captain after Michael Vaughan resigned before the home series against the West Indies in 2007.
He had some success as captain, but his disappointing performance after 2008 forced him to step down. But, for the 2009 World Cup, he returned as captain of the T20 squad, leading his side to a landmark World T20 win in 2010.
Records
Collingwood’s popularity as an all-rounder in one-day internationals grew rapidly as he began to cement his place in the team, when he exceeded Viv Richards’ highest all-round effort with a century and a six-wicket haul against Bangladesh in 2005.
His other noteworthy results came in the 2006 CB series against arch-rival Australia. His magnificent double-century at Adelaide should have been his career defining moment.
Retirement
He decided to retire from Test cricket at an all-time high, with the English side on the brink of a comfortable 3-1 victory in the Ashes in 2010-11.
Collingwood hoped to continue playing limited-overs cricket for England, but after a weak World Cup result and a terrible Ashes series, he was dropped from the squad, with Stuart Broad taking over as captain of the T20 side.
Collingwood agreed to stick with Durham after considering retirement from all aspects of cricket. He replaced Phil Mustard as captain of his home county in 2012, winning seven of his first ten matches in charge.