Reasons to miss Paul Collingwood
Paul Collingwood finally announced he is bidding adieu to Test cricket. The middle order batsman told his teammates on Thursday that he will be retiring from Test cricket but will continue to captain the Twenty20 team and will play in One Day Internationals.
His teammates hugged him, Kevin Pietersen giving him a big bear hug. Graeme Swann gave him a sprinkler as a farewell gift and the others jumped with glee. Why did they jump with joy, you might think? Well his departure meant young players will now have the
chance to try out that bumblebee yellow Lamborghini that Pietersen flamboyantly “vroomed” around http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746. “I feel now is the time to ensure some of the younger players are given an opportunity at Test level as we have a wealth of talent pushing for places
in the England Test team,” he himself conceded.
However, you have to hand it to Collingwood. He had a relatively short Test cricket career, having debuted in 2003 against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 at the rainy Galle. A very few selected critics are arguing about the fact that he might have jumped before he was pushed.
However, according to him it was just the right time to bid farewell. Paul “Colly” Collingwood was the most downright team player. His Test cricket was based on the fact that he was always there for the players. He was the ultimate ginger ninja for England’s
cricket. When Test captain Andrew Strauss led his team to a 5-0 Ashes whitewash in 2006, Collingwood was the one beside him. He held the team close and treated them with flashy Christmas gifts. Their morale got boosted and they went on to win the Ashes in
2005 by 2-1. Collingwood also registered his name in the history for being the first captain to win the first ever World Twenty20 Cup in 2010. His glories might be short-lived but his achievements are illustrious.
The 34-year-old has not been performing well in recent times and he conceded that he thinks cricket will close on him if he continues to give a slumping performance. Is Ricky Ponting listening? There are many reasons to miss him; some of them are discussed
below.
His ugliness
Of course, the scribe is not a racist. But his overly ginger-ness will always be missed. His face colour was ever ginger. However, the ugliness here is not tied up with the hair. But he had pulled off some nice shots in his ugly batting style. He has smashed
some tricky cover drives, tackled some strange back-lifts that grew smaller as his career went ahead.
His beautiful catches
He will always be remembered for his catches, always. He just has to be remembered for it. The latest beautiful catch of Collingwood was of Ponting’s. In the third Ashes Test at Perth, Ponting tried to find the edge off James Anderson. It was like a ballet
dance. The red ball flew straight to the third slip where Colly was waiting. He only had to tip his feet above and stretched his right arm so long that it is beyond imagination. England might have won the Perth Test, yet his stunning catches always find their
way to overshadow the ugly patch of ginger hair.
His sprinkler dance
If the catches don’t work for the non-cricketing people, then it has to be the chicken dance for the brave hearted. He is known to have unveiled the dance inspired by the garden sprinklers. It was amazing how the England team was seen dancing their heart
out with the Barmy Army when they retained the urn at Melbourne. Collingwood was a proud man, even though he did not contribute runs, he had gifted the world the best dance ever.
Having the worst PR ever
He came into the Ashes 2010-11 and the press was already writing him off. The scribe believes that he might not have retired if the press did not inflict the thought into his brain. It was painful to see him play alongside Ian Bell and he decided to end
it all for the cricket enthusiasts.
The way nobody cared for his retirement
He should be remembered for this fact as well. No one was shocked, there were no farewell speeches. No tribute messages by Ian Chappell or Botham. Even Freddie Flintoff seemed ignorant.
His MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire)
Even though people criticized his honour yet his MBE proved to give birth to one of the best sledging comments ever. Collingwood, who scored 7 and 10 in the 2005 Ashes, was taunted by Shane Warne. “You got an MBE, right? For scoring 7 at the Oval?”
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