Collingwood- Captain Marvel

England Cricket / Editor / 18 September 2007 / Leave a Comment

"Mystical" Mike Norman looks into his crystal ball to discover what the future holds for the England one-day side under Paul Collingwood

When I was growing up as a sports mad teenager some 20 years ago, cricket was much recognised as a summer game, and in my football mad neighbourhood, it was seen as a 'stop gap' until the new football season started. How things have changed - England playing in Australia during the winter, the ICC Cricket World Cup throughout March & April, the regular cricket season in the summer, and now the ICC World Twenty 20 Cup in South Africa.

There is no doubting that live TV coverage of many cricket events, and the influx of many betting opportunities have had a massive impact on raising the profile of the sport. And it tends to be the case that the higher profile the sport, the more attention is centred around the skipper, who in cricket is both leader and decision-maker.

Paul David Collingwood MBE, is regarded as a natural athlete, with a happy-go-lucky temperament and unquestioned ability in all forms of the game. Colly's appointment as England's one-day captain earlier this year 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. He is a very talented right-handed batsman, a medium paced bowler, and he is regarded as one of the finest fielders ever to grace cricket, with some of his catches beggaring belief.

His opportunity to captain the team came in extremely unusual circumstances however, when back in March, the current Vice-Captain and apparent 'heir to the cricketing throne' Andrew 'Freddy' Flintoff, was caught all at sea when allegedly unable to control a pedalo while in an intoxicated state. Flintoff was stripped of his role and when Vaughan gave up the full-time one-day captaincy it was Collingwood that was asked to fill the role.

He has had a mixed start to his career as captain, but a thrilling 4-3 series win against India recently will have set him, and England, up nicely for future matches. There is no suggestion that Collingwood's new role has brought about any deterioration in his bowling or fielding, and some of his recent below par batting efforts (by his own very high standards) can simply be put down to being unlucky or a slight dip in form, which is perfectly natural. He drew many plaudits in the recent Twenty 20 game against South Africa for his brilliant bowling and fielding changes at crucial times, and but for some very inept fielding by his team mates, England would surely have won.

After a disappointing loss to New Zealand, England's hopes of winning the World Twenty 20 are all but gone. They need to comprehensively beat India in Durban tomorrow and then hope for some miracle results in the games that they have no say in. With arguably the best batsman in the world - Kevin Pietersen - in the team, England can always be fancied to score a mass of runs, but the form and fitness of Flintoff is a major worry, and he is fast becoming the cricket equivalent of Jonny Wilkinson as every day passes.

England are currently fluctuating between 100 and 150 on Betfair to win the tournament outright, and these odds perfectly reflect their chances in my opinion. I wouldn't give up on England for the future however, with 'Colly' tactically getting better with every game in terms of captaincy, and his apparent dislike of pedalos, then he is very much the right man to take us forward.

To win the tournament, it's hard to look beyond Australia (currently trading at 2.42), as I don't personally buy into this theory that you have to be a specialist team at this format in order to be successful. All forms of the game are the same for Australia, whether it be test match, one day or Twenty 20 - put a bat in their hand and they will score runs, but a ball in their hand and they will get wickets. Australia have some wonderful players, none more so that captain Ricky Ponting, who will surely go down as one of the greatest players of all time.

For a more speculative selection, look no further than New Zealand (trading at 7), who are already guaranteed a Semi Final slot, and in Daniel Vettori, they have a ready made match winner who has the ability to turn any game, as England know far too well.