Born May 26, 1976, Shotley Bridge, Co Durham
Current age 33 years 5 days
Major teams England, Delhi Daredevils, Durham
Nickname Colly
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm medium
Height 5 ft 11 in
Education Blackfyne Comprehensive School
Paul David Collingwood MBE (born 26 May 1976), is an English cricketer. He is a regular member of the England Test side and was captain of the One Day International team from 2007, resigning on Sunday 3 August 2008,and he is also the current England Twenty20 captain. He is also vice-captain of his county, Durham County Cricket Club. Collingwood is an all-rounder, who combines natural strokeplay with reliable medium pace bowling. Described as a "natural athlete", he is also regarded as one of the finest fielders of his time.
His first class debut was in 1995,and he made his first appearance for England in One Day International cricket in 2001 and in Test cricket in 2003. A series of three consecutive match-winning performances by Collingwood at the end of the 2006–07 Commonwealth Bank Series in Australia brought him enthusiastic approval in the British media. His "allround [sic] display of incredible nerve and tenacity" helped to secure the trophy for England. In 2009, in the second test against the West Indies, Paul Collingwood substituted for an injured Matt Prior as wicket keeper, the first time he has done so in First Class cricket.
Profile
A natural athlete, with a happy-go-lucky temperament, Paul Collingwood's appointment as England's one-day captain in 2007 was reward for six years of uncomplaining professionalism, in which time he fought his way through a melee of seemingly more talented opponents to make himself indispensable in both forms of the game. However, he lasted a little over a year in the role before resigning to concentrate on his own game following a controversial series against New Zealand.
Collingwood first played for England's one-day team in 2001, but four years and numerous tours later, he had played in just three Tests. The third of these, however, was the single biggest match of his generation - the decisive fifth Test against Australia at The Oval, where his responsible batting helped secure the draw that England needed for a first Ashes triumph in 18 years. His selection for this match, plus the award of an England central contract in 2001, spoke volumes of the esteem with which he was held by the management. In his wilderness years, he rose to become one of the finest fielders in the world, capable of breathtaking moments in the covers and backward point. As a batsman, he stands still at the crease, plays the ball straight and has a tantalising range of strokes up his sleeve. In Australia in 2002-03 he started the VB Series as 12th man, but soon confirmed his place in the 2003 World Cup squad with a memorable maiden century against Sri Lanka at Perth.
His bowling verges towards the dibbly-dobbly, but given the right conditions he can be irresistible, as he proved with a matchwinning display of swing bowling in the third one-day game against New Zealand in 2001-02. The final tick in his column is determination - realising he was treading water, he dispatched himself to Melbourne in the winter of 2000-01 to play grade cricket. He duly won the prestigious Jack Ryder Medal, and came close to making an Ashes debut at Perth in 2002-03. However, despite his late role in the 2005 Ashes he still seemed destined to be a fill-in player. But at Lahore that winter he stuck 96 and 80 before hitting a brilliant maiden century at Nagpur with England in the middle of an injury crisis. If Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick had been available he wouldn't have played: instead he kicked on to become the rock of England's batting on the subsequent Ashes tour. His brilliant double-century at Adelaide ought to have been the defining moment of his career. Instead it was the preamble to one of the most devastating defeats in English Test history. But after an understandable period of introspection, Collingwood bounced back with back-to-back one-day centuries to secure the CB Series. It was England's first overseas one-day trophy for nine years, and his subsequent appointment to the captaincy in June 2007 was met with unanimous approval. He cemented the role with memorable victories over India at home and Sri Lanka away, but the 2008 season was less of a triumph.
Back-to-back series defeats against New Zealand were capped by a four-match ban for slow over-rates, and all the while his Test form crumbled. He was dropped for the first time in two years for the Headingley Test against South Africa, only to be recalled - in spite of a total of 92 first-class runs in nine innings - for the very next match. He duly celebrated with his sixth Test hundred, a triumph of will after failing in the first innings. However, two days later he followed Michael Vaughan's lead by resigning the one-day captaincy to concentrate on his own form. He nevertheless took back the reins for England's Twenty20 captaincy for the ICC World Twenty20 in 2009.Early and personal life
Collingwood was born and brought up in Shotley Bridge, County Durham by parents David and Janet, and was educated at Blackfyne Comprehensive School, now known as Consett Community Sports College. Introduced to cricket "on the playing fields of Blackfyne Comprehensive School", Paul was able to "force his way into Shotley Bridge's Under–13s team at the age of just nine". As a teenager, his father, who still remains a member of the Shotley Bridge Cricket Club,[11] persuaded him to give up football and concentrate on cricket.Collingwood still makes regular visits to his old cricket club, "...he is a brilliant role model for the kids and his success is an aspiration to follow...".
He currently lives in Durham with wife Vicki and daughters Shannon (born in September 2006) and Keira (born February 2008). Off the field, Collingwood writes a fortnightly column for BBC Online, in which he revealed that he likes to relax "by playing golf and going to the gym". In 2004 Collingwood, who has a handicap of "five or six",[19] participated in a celebrity golf tournament, organised by Ian Botham to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support. He is also a devoted fan of Sunderland AFC.His nicknames are Colly, Shep (this being an apparent homage to the famous Blue Peter dog, Shep),[2][3] and once on BBC's live text commentary, Mackem Nugget.
