Captain Collingwood comes good but what about the other England skippers?

Other / David Croft / 15 February 2008 / Leave a Comment

The BBC's David Croft talks us through the different roles played by England's captains in cricket, rugby and football

So I've had another early morning on the sofa today. Thankfully the latest one day international was a day-night affair as even with England's dismal performances so far the wife is starting to think I'm avoiding her, such is the amount of time I've spent watching the cricket in the small hours.

Either way, Ian Bell has just been given out in the 3rd ODI to what can only be described as a debatable LBW - he got a nick, even in my tired state I can see that - and Kevin Pietersen has quickly followed, once again swinging across the line and missing. When is he going to learn? So what England need now is a captain's innings. Paul Collingwood has to stand firm, encourage his batting partner at the other end and smelt the white ball to all parts of Auckland. It's not the first time of course that England have needed a captain's innings, it's not the first time that English cricket has looked to it's skipper for some inspiration and so far so good - Collingwood has just launched one over the top for four.

I'd hate to be a cricket captain, possibly the hardest job in world sport, harder even than the task facing Dwain Chambers' PR team. You are the coach on the pitch: who bowls, how they bowl, and when they bowl, who fields and where they field is all down to you, and then there's the small matter of your own contribution to the side which if you're a batsmen means that sooner or later the aforementioned captain's innings will be called for. That's a lot of pressure for not the biggest financial reward when you compare it to the job of football captain which to me consists of calling heads of tails, clapping your hands and shouting at the other ten players in a semi-motivational way and if you're lucky, pumping the iron sufficiently so that you can lift a trophy at the end of the season.

By the way, I recently went for a curry with the FA Trophy and can accurately state that that piece of silverware is one heavy boy. Whoever wins it this season be warned. Betfair's market by the way, has Nigel Clough's Burton Albion at [5.5] to win this year, a good price should they beat Ebbsfleet in the next round. The FA Cup weighs in slightly lighter and I've got a hunch that after beating Man Utd this weekend William Gallas will have the job of lifting the cup come May - I love the price of [7.4] on the Gunners with Betfair and it's surely worth taking on.

But I digress. Back to the skipper. There's so much debate as to who should be the next England captain now Fabio is in charge. I've no objection to Steven Gerrard though personally I don't think it makes much difference. I never did subscribe to the whole Captain Marvel thing when Bryan Robson had the armband in the 80's and the only reason David Beckham got the captaincy was because Peter Taylor realised he was the only guaranteed starter at that time

Rugby Union captains tend to get the chance a little more than their football counterparts to show inspiration and lead their men. I was impressed with Steve Borthwick, England's stand-in skipper, against Italy. He took his chance well, denied the Italians at their own line-out a couple of times and helped his men cope with the Italy pack. Definitely his finest performance from his 34 international appearances but with so many key injuries, whoever captains England will struggle to win the 6 Nations this year - lay Brian Ashton's men with confidence at [8.8] with Betfair.

Meanwhile back in Auckland, Paul Collingwood has just lifted a high full toss into the stands for 6, the 50 partnership is up, another 4, the skipper has a half century and has delivered the captains' innings. Wow, a couple more like that and the [2.6] on offer for England to win the series might seem like a good bet.