48 Facts About Paul Collingwood

Paul David Collingwood was born on 26 May 1976 and is an English cricket coach and former player, who played in all three formats of the game internationally for England.

Paul Collingwood captained his county club, Durham County Cricket Club, for the final six seasons of his career.

Paul Collingwood retired from first-class and List A cricket in September 2018.

Paul Collingwood was born and brought up in Shotley Bridge, near Consett, County Durham, by parents David and Janet, along with his elder brother Peter, and was educated at Blackfyne Comprehensive School, now known as Consett Academy.

Paul Collingwood signed for Durham, his local county cricket side, in 1995, playing first in List A one-day cricket.

When he first came to Durham's attention, Paul Collingwood was regarded "as a bowler who batted a bit".

Paul Collingwood had terrible luck with his back, he missed an awful lot of cricket, and a lesser character could well have decided to call it a day.

Paul Collingwood made an immediate impression by taking the wicket of former England all-rounder David Capel with his first ball, and scoring 91 in his first innings.

Paul Collingwood's breakthrough began in 2000, when he was voted Player of the Year by the Durham members, particularly for his one-day efforts.

However, Paul Collingwood's involvement was severely limited by his England commitments and he made no appearances at all in either competition.

Paul Collingwood chose to support two charities through his benefit, Marie Curie Cancer Care and the Cricket Foundation's "Chance to Shine" project, which encourages cricket coaching in state schools.

Paul Collingwood was not particularly successful on his ODI debut in June 2001, scoring only two runs and taking no wickets against Pakistan at Edgbaston, and doing poorly in the rest of the series.

Paul Collingwood played in all seven matches of the 2002 NatWest Series against India and Sri Lanka, ending on the losing side in the final to India.

Paul Collingwood was England's second highest run-scorer in the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy, scoring 141 runs at an average of 70.5, which included an unbeaten 80 in the opening game against Zimbabwe.

Paul Collingwood played in all 11 ODIs against Zimbabwe and South Africa, and was then named in the England Development Squad in May 2005, and the 14-man squad for the NatWest Series against Bangladesh and Australia and the NatWest International Twenty20 against Australia that summer.

On 21 June 2005, playing for England against Bangladesh at Trent Bridge, Paul Collingwood scored 112 not out from 86 balls and then took six wickets for 31 runs.

Paul Collingwood played in England's inaugural Twenty20 International match, held at the Rose Bowl, where a useful contribution of 49 and the wickets of Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie helped jump-start England on its pursuit of the Ashes, with 100-run defeat of Australia.

Paul Collingwood was selected for the Test squad at the outset of the series but was not called into action until bowler Simon Jones was ruled out due to injury during the Fourth Test at Trent Bridge.

Paul Collingwood played in the First Test in against Pakistan in Multan in 2005, but scored only 13 runs in his two innings and took no wickets.

Paul Collingwood justified his position in the team with a magnificent 134 not out in the first innings on 2 March 2006, his first Test century.

Paul Collingwood thus became the first Durham player to make a Test century for England.

Paul Collingwood kept his place for the first three Tests against Sri Lanka in the summer of 2006.

Paul Collingwood went on to make up for the dropped catches in the Second Test at Edgbaston, where he took five catches in two innings while playing his usual batting style as foil to Kevin Pietersen's 142 in the first innings.

Paul Collingwood then followed this up with an important innings in the First Test against Pakistan later that summer, scoring his second Test century.

Paul Collingwood took his first Test wicket on 6 August 2006, trapping Faisal Iqbal leg before wicket for a golden duck in the Third Test at Headingley.

The return of Andrew Flintoff following an injury would reignite the ongoing debate about which two of Cook, Bell and Paul Collingwood should be included in the team, with many speculating that Paul Collingwood would be the man to miss out.

Paul Collingwood received some praise but mostly criticism from commentators on the manner in which he batted with the tail-enders.

England fared no better in the Third and Fourth Tests, losing them both, with Paul Collingwood picking up only 60 with the bat in his four innings.

Paul Collingwood then hit a century and scored the winning runs as England won the first of three finals in Melbourne, against Australia, becoming the eighth Englishman to hit centuries in consecutive ODIs.

Paul Collingwood's knock was named as the fourth-best ODI Batting Performance of the year by ESPNCricinfo.

Paul Collingwood did end up as the tournament's joint top fielder, grabbing eight catches along with Graeme Smith, and took what is arguably his most stunning catch, to dismiss Devon Smith off the bowling of Andrew Flintoff during the final Super Eight match versus the West Indies.

Paul Collingwood then added his second century of the series at Durham's home ground at Chester-le-Street during the fourth Test, hitting 128 from 188 balls as part of a 169-run seventh-wicket stand with Prior before being bowled by Corey Collymore.

Paul Collingwood went on to captain the one-day side against India, where they won the 1st ODI but lost an entertaining 2nd ODI at Bristol by 9 runs.

Paul Collingwood led the team to victory over Zimbabwe in the group stages of the tournament, but England, under his leadership, were later defeated by Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and India to go out of the competition before the final stages.

Paul Collingwood enjoyed a successful Test series away in New Zealand in early 2008, scoring 244 runs from three matches at 40.66, passing 50 three times.

Paul Collingwood had a less successful home series scoring only 32 runs in three matches, 24 of these in one innings, and ended the series with an average of just 10.66.

Paul Collingwood was left out of the side for the following Test at Headingley, making way for Andrew Flintoff, but was recalled for the third Test at Edgbaston, scoring a century and giving England a chance of beating South Africa and levelling the series.

Half an hour after Michael Vaughan resigned from the Test captaincy, Paul Collingwood relinquished charge of the ODI squad because it was affecting his ability to enjoy the game.

Paul Collingwood told his wife on the night before his century against South Africa that it was time to go.

Nonetheless, England's seamers bowled Australia out for 215, and in the second innings Paul Collingwood scored a measured 54, acting as foil to the aggressive strokeplay of Matt Prior and Andrew Flintoff.

Against South Africa in November 2009, Paul Collingwood surpassed Alec Stewart's record of 170 ODIs to become England's most capped player.

Paul Collingwood held the record until May 2019, when Eoin Morgan surpassed Collingwood during England's series against Pakistan.

In early 2010, Paul Collingwood led the England Twenty20 team to the 2010 World Twenty20 championship.

In November 2014, Paul Collingwood agreed to return in Scotland's coaching staff for the 2015 Cricket World Cup.

Paul Collingwood was named as Limited Overs Consultant for England in September 2015.

Paul Collingwood was appointed fielding coach for the England cricket team.

On 7 February 2022, it was announced that Paul Collingwood would serve as interim head coach of the men's England cricket team for the forthcoming West Indies Test series.

Paul Collingwood was chosen as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 2007, alongside England teammate Monty Panesar.