Collingwood recalled by England selectors

[Twizzle]

from Sportal.com

Collingwood called up for second TestSportal

England has added all-rounder Paul Collingwood to its squad for the second Ashes Test against Australia at Edgbaston.

At the weekend selectors retained the same XII that was beaten by 239 runs in the opening match at Lord's, despite speculation that Collingwood would be brought in to try and bolster the team.

But now England has named Collingwood in a revised 13-man squad for the match, rewarding him for making centuries in his past three innings for County side Durham.

"It has been well documented that Birmingham has experienced unusually large amounts of rainfall in the last few days and this has put the ground authorities under extreme pressure," England chairman of selectors David Graveney told CricInfo.

"Having looked at the pitch it has been decided to add Collingwood to the squad so that England will have the maximum number of options available on match day."

Collingwood played two Tests for England in Sri Lanka in 2003-04, and was also one of England's best players during the recent one-day NatWest Series and NatWest Challenge competitions.

England squad
Marcus Trescothick, Andrew Strauss, Michael Vaughan (c), Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Geraint Jones, Ashley Giles, Simon Jones, Matthew Hoggard, Steve Harmison, Chris Tremlett

 

[Twizzle]

Interresting they renamed the same squad yesterday, then added Collingwood overnight

 

[The Colonel]

Hoggard or Jones not going to play? Increase their batting while not upsetting their bowling too much? Suggests a bit of panic about their form.....

 

[borat]

I would say they will wait till game day to decide on Giles or Collingwood. I guess the pommie selectors figure that if they are going to choose a player who will finish with bowling fiugures of 0/100 they may as well select someone who can have a bat.

 

[JJ]

I would say they will wait till game day to decide on Giles or Collingwood. I guess the pommie selectors figure that if they are going to choose a player who will finish with bowling fiugures of 0/100 they may as well select someone who can have a bat.

he's ok in the field too. Even in NZ we realised that Chris Harris shouldn't be in the test side (and he's a much better player than Collingwood)

 

[aussies1st]

Harris never looked settled in test cricket and the two are very similar. Both bowl medium pacers and both saved their teams from collaspes. I have always wonder how Collingwood would go in test matches.

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

Harris is not similar to Collingwood, JJ is right, he's much better. He's probably the best batsman in NZ first class cricket over the last 10 years. A better comparison is with Michael Bevan, except that Harris got an even shoddier deal. imo a very overrated one-day player and very underrated test player (as a prospective specialist batsman- if you can average 50 in NZ first class cricket you can score runs anywhere.)

 

[JoeysChiropractor]

Unless the wicket is turning sideways, Collingwood would offer as much with the ball as Giles does.


Its obvious their bowling attack is OK, but their batting struggles against an Australian attack which apparently, according to England and their press, are "too old"

 

[Dakink]

if you can average 50 in NZ first class cricket you can score runs anywhere.)

Uh huh.

 

[Scott]

I'd say that TH is spot on. Averaging 50 in NZ first class cricket is superb considering the conditions are tailor made for bowling in this country.