Paul Collingwood: An under-appreciated servant of English cricket

The English county season drew to a close this week, and as the summer of 2018 drifts away, so too do the careers of a number of men who have been pivotal figures in the English game for well over a decade.

Alastair Cook's retirement from Test cricket brought with it an outpouring of emotion and heartfelt appreciation from the English cricketing public not seen in years. Whilst Cook received great acclaim, and deservedly so, cricket fans will still have the opportunity to see Cook in action for his county side, Essex.

The same cannot be said for a another group of stalwarts. James Foster, James Tredwell, and Jonathan Trott all announced their retirements from cricket towards the end of the season and although all of them made major contributions to English cricket, none left their mark on the English game in the same way that Paul Collingwood did.

Collingwood's journey as an English cricketer wasn't always simple. He was never earmarked as a great white hope and it took until he was 30 to establish himself in the England Test side.

His initial forays into international cricket where exclusively in limited-overs formats. An all-rounder in every sense of the term, Collingwood's middle-order batting and wily medium-pace bowling were both more than handy assets for an England one-day team who were inconsistent for a large part of Collingwood's international career.

As good a batsman as Collingwood was - he retired with more ODI runs for England than any other batsman at the time - it was his fielding that was truly world-class. If ever a cricketer could merit a place in a team purely on the basis of their fielding, it was Collingwood.

He made the backward point position his own and was Jonty Rhodes' worthy and natural successor for the role of being the world's premier fielder. He made excellent catches look routine and caught balls that most players wouldn't even dream of even getting a finger to - most notably his catch to dismiss Matthew Hayden in a 2005 ODI against Australia.

But to focus primarily on Collingwood's prowess in the field would be a disservice to his work with bat in hand. Batting never came as easily to him as fielding did, and it's for this reason that perhaps his finest achievement was nailing down a spot in England's middle-order from 2006 until his retirement from Test cricket after the 2010/11 Ashes.

He shared that middle order with the likes of Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott - three of the very best middle-order batsmen England have ever produced. Collingwood would probably be the first to admit that he could never make batting look as effortless as Bell or take the the game away in an instant like Pietersen, and nor did he have the innate, almost freakish, hunger that Trott possessed that enabled him to regularly churn out match-defining scores at number three.

Collingwood had to grit it out. He wrung every run he could out of the talent that he had and was the focal point of some of England's greatest moments this century. Crucially for England fans, many of those came against their arch-rivals, Australia.

In the 2006/07 Ashes series when England were comprehensively beaten 5-0, his double hundred at Adelaide was undoubtedly England's highlight of an otherwise torrid tour. In 2009, during the first Ashes Test match at Cardiff, Collingwood batted for nearly six hours trying to save the game.

Although he was out with just over 12 overs remaining, England hung on for a draw that proved pivotal in their 2-1 series win to avenge the whitewash they were on the receiving end of in the previous Ashes series.

As well documented as England's search for a replacement for Andrew Strauss has been, it is a testament to Collingwood that England found it nearly as tough to replace him in their middle-order.

His crowning moment as an England cricketer came during at the 2010 ICC World T20. Even though he endured a tough campaign with the bat, Collingwood masterfully led his England side to victory over Australia in the final. To date, that success is England's only global white-ball trophy.

Away from England, Paul Collingwood can claim to be his county Durham's greatest servant. The county was only awarded first-class status in 1992, and Collingwood has been a permanent fixture in the Durham set-up for the majority of the time since.

He played key roles in their first Championship wins, but he will be most remembered for his work in the last two years. Even after Durham were punished with relegation and a hefty points deduction for going into administration, Collingwood continued to captain the side despite being on the older side of 40.

As others left the county for better opportunities, Collingwood persisted being the glue holding the team together when a career in coaching or punditry would have been easier alternatives. He even managed to make his first T20 century at the ripe old age of 41.

Collingwood was fortunate that his England career coincided with not only the aforementioned middle-order batsmen, but also the likes of Strauss, Alastair Cook, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, and Graeme Swann. But, he is also, in a way, unfortunate for the same reason.

As a result of their successs, Collingwood probably does not get the adulation he deserves. In another era of English cricket, a batsman with his record in all formats would have surely been revered more. But as he retires from the game for good, now is the appropriate time to appreciate Collingwood's service to English cricket.

He leaves with 15 international hundreds, 144 international wickets, countless breathtaking catches and one ICC World T20 to his name. It's a record and legacy most players would envy, and it's also none less than he deserves.