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Collingwood: leadership under scrutiny

For all his apparent self-centredness and opinionated ego, Pietersen is the one batsman assured of his place in both forms of the game and the player most likely to take England in a new direction by the sheer force of his talent.

David Fulton
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An already difficult summer for Paul Collingwood just got a lot tougher. Having dealt admirably with the flak following his refusal to call Grant Elliott back after the collision and subsequent run out, he has now been handed a four-match ban for England's slow over-rate

He is not the first and will not be the last international captain to suffer such a fate as the laws on over-rates in this spectator-friendly era are quite rightly stringent. It is more the timing that will cause alarm.

England's one-day cricket had initially been moving forward under the Moores/Collingwood regime with important wins over India and Sri Lanka but New Zealand brought them back down to earth in the winter and have proved canny opponents once again as they try to salvage something from a difficult tour.

Last summer Collingwood was putting West Indies to the sword in the Test arena, too, not long after having been the main reason England triumphed in the Commonwealth Bank series against Australia. He was England's Most Valuable Player as judged by the PCA's revolutionary ranking system.

Now his form in the Tests has deserted him, there are calls from some in the media - and I count myself among them - to play Ravi Bopara ahead of him, and England's one-day momentum has stalled.

Collingwood was excellent in the first one-day international at the Riverside, which England won convincingly but since then the series and his leadership has been marred by controversy.

Complaints

The rain farce at Edgbaston was not his fault but there were complaints that he slowed things down despite England bowling their overs well within the allocated time.

England failed to chase 182 in the third match at Bristol and then lost a thriller at the Oval, the result being completely overshadowed by the run-out incident and Collingwood's refusal to call Elliott back.

The interesting point for me is that those who have captained sides at the highest levels - most notably Nasser Hussain and Nick Knight - came out in support of Collingwood.

As a former county captain I'd like to endorse that support for in pressure situations - and let's be honest the closing stages of a one-day international with the score in the series standing at 1-1 equals a pressure situation - the captain makes a decision in the heat of the moment.

It was the wrong call but there might have been plenty of others who would have made that same decision given what's at stake in international cricket these days. His neck was on the line with England needing to win; occasionally the bigger picture goes out of the window.

Significantly, Collingwood came out afterwards and apologised for getting it wrong.

He didn't duck the issue. He spoke clearly, honestly and with humility and his apology was just as gracefully accepted by the New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori. The two captains' response to the controversy in their post-match interviews showed that the spirit of cricket is alive and well.

Magnanimous

I can't imagine two Premier League managers conducting themselves in such magnanimous fashion if a football match had erupted in an equivalent way.

Sitting out four one-day internationals is the last thing Collingwood needs. "Not giving a sucker an even break" is a cricketer's accepted rule and having opted for cortisone injections rather than allowing someone else a crack at the Test team by having a shoulder operation, Collingwood must now sit and watch as Kevin Pietersen takes the one-day reins.

For all his apparent self-centredness and opinionated ego, Pietersen is the one batsman assured of his place in both forms of the game and the player most likely to take England in a new direction by the sheer force of his talent.

If he happens to level the series against New Zealand and leads England to victories in the Twenty20 and the first two one-day internationals against his native South Africa, we might have seen the last of Paul Collingwood as an England captain.

And that would be a great shame for an honest man who has worn the three lions with great pride and led his country well.

Hi All, Thanks for your comments on my article. Just for the record I'm a big Collingwood fan and would like to see him captaining England's one-day team for the foreseeable future. I'm concerned for him and his position and I think Pietersen - if results go for him - would build a head of steam in his absence. I would like Geoff Miller to have come out and backed Colly by saying he would assume the reins as soon as he is available but he stopped short of that, which I think was a missed opportunity. Colly has been England's most consistent one-day player for the last few years and the split captaincy is not an issue. I do think there are players in county cricket who would score more runs than him in Test cricket but he would be the main man for me in one-dayers. I hope that clears up my personal position on Colly. The article was a reflection of how I think the sands might shift. DAVE FULTON