Collingwood reaches one-day milestone
Following England's eight-wicket win at Trent Bridge the final match of a long international summer has plenty riding on it at Edgbaston
Cricinfo staff
09-Sep-2006
 |
|
For one England player the match will have added significance, as Paul Collingwood's international career comes full circle with his 100th ODI cap on the ground where he debuted, against Australia, in 2001.
"I really don't think I'll really appreciate what it's all about until I finish my career and look back at it all," Collingwood said on the eve of the match. "You don't realise what sort of company you're in until you look at it properly. When you mention names like Gooch, Gower and Botham it makes you very proud to be in that sort of company."
It was a far from easy start for Collingwood as his four appearances in the 2001 Natwest series resulted in 20 runs and 7.1 overs costing 49. In subsequent years Steve Waugh, who was then captain of Australia, said he'd seen some qualities he liked in Collingwood, but the player himself admits he had major doubts.
"It took me a hell of a long time to get used to international cricket. It was a shock to the system and I'll always remember it. At the end of that first series I had a realisation that I probably wasn't good enough and it was a massive dent of confidence to believe that.
"It was a very hard series to go into against Pakistan and Australia, but I still wondered whether I was good enough - to do well after that meant a lot to me because I'm sure there were a few doubters about my ability."
However, since then he has established himself as a key member of England's often changing one-day outfit. His highlights include hitting an unbeaten 112 and taking 6 for 31 against Bangladesh, at Trent Bridge, last year - the first player to score a century and take five wickets in an ODI since Viv Richards in 1987.
Even though England have broken their one-day duck for the summer, they may still tweak with their side for the final match. Abdul Razzaq laid into the closing overs with devastating effect at Trent Bridge and Graham Onions could win his first ODI cap at the expense of Sajid Mahmood.
Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, is backing his team to finish the tour on a high despite signs in the last couple of matches that they have lost their edge.
"I would be very disappointed if they didn't have the energy and enthusiasm," he said. "When you lose you tend to learn more than when you win and after what has happened here we would like to win.
"This [the defeat at Trent Bridge] might be a way of reminding them: we bowled badly, both sides of the wicket, either too full or too short and we didn't bat as well as we should have done."
Woolmer also played down the controversial incident from Friday night when Andrew Strauss stood his ground following a low edge to slip. Inzamam-ul-Haq believed he'd caught the ball, but Strauss gained the benefit after TV replays.
"Inzamam thought he caught it and Strauss thought it bounced and there's always going to be an impasse in that situation. Someone has to make a decision and that is why the umpire is there.
"If they are not sure they have to ask and the benefit goes to the batsman. I think Strauss, if he thought it hit the ground, had every right to stay there, quite frankly."
England (probable) 1 Andrew Strauss (capt), 2 Ed Joyce, 3 Ian Bell, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Paul Collingwood, 6 Jamie Dalrymple, 7 Michael Yardy, 8 Chris Read (wk), 9 Jon Lewis, 10 Stuart Broad, 11 Graham Onions
Pakistan (probable) 1 Mohammad Hafeez, 2 Shahid Afridi, 3 Younis Khan, 4 Mohammad Yousuf, 5 Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Shoaib Malik, 7 Abdul Razzaq, 8 Kamran Akmal (wk), 9 Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, 10 Shoaib Akhtar, 11 Mohammad Asif