SYDNEY, (Reuters) – Paul Collingwood is to quit test cricket after the fifth Ashes encounter, the England batsman said yesterday, going out on a high after helping to retain the famous urn in Australia for the first time in 24 years.
The 34-year-old will continue as captain of England’s world champion Twenty20 team and in the one-day team, which will contest the World Cup in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh starting next month.
“In many ways it’s a sad moment, it many ways it’s the perfect moment,” he told reporters after England moved to the brink of a first Ashes series triumph Australia since 1986-87 on Thursday.
“This is what I’ve been playing the game of cricket for is to be in a position like this against Australia, in Australia.
“I’ve fought hard and given it my all.”
Collingwood has scored 4,259 runs with 10 centuries at an average of 40.56 and taken 17 wickets in 68 matches since his test debut against Sri Lanka in December 2003 but has struggled with the bat on the current tour.
Averaging just 15.54 over his last 10 tests and 13.83 in the ongoing Ashes series, the popular right-hander said it was time to give younger players a chance.
“This England team will progress without me and get better and better,” he added.
“To be involved in a great England team, with some very special players, very special characters, it’s a very proud place to be.
“It’s hard to leave but it’s definitely the right time.”
Although his performances with the bat have been sub-par in the series, Collingwood has taken some key catches with his athletic fielding and he bowled out Australian danger man Mike Hussey on Tuesday.
What looks like being his final test innings was another disappointment, however, with a rash charge down the wicket to a Michael Beer delivery in sending a miscued shot ballooning into the hands of Ben Hilfenhaus for just 13.
“I knew that was probably going to be my last innings and I was hoping it was going to be a fairy tale and I’d crack a hundred, but I don’t have fairy tales,” he said.
An honest, dogged determination had previously characterised his batting, not least when he ground out his career best 206 at Adelaide on the ill-fated 2006-07 Ashes Tour.
“Last time we were here, I managed to make runs and we got beat 5-0,” he said. “I much prefer it this way around.
“In many ways, I’ve overachieved, averaging 40, I’ve scrapped it out, and there have been ups and downs but I wouldn’t change a thing about the way my career has gone.”
His place in the cricketing history books is assured, however, not for his test career but as the first England captain to win a global one-day tournament at the third Twenty20 World Cup in West Indies last year.
