Happy Birthday Paul Collingwood

Paul Collingwood was born on May 26, 1976 , Durham, United Kingdom. He started to play cricket at the age of 9. He is a right handed batsman and right arm medium pace bowler who played as an all rounder for England's cricket team. He started to play cricket at the age of 9, as his father's compelsion to focus on cricket. In 1996, he made his county cricket for Durham against Northampshire. Following a great performance, he made his ODI Debut in 2011. 

He is a right handed upper middle order batsman who started his career without being much effective with both the bat and the ball. But, then during the period of 2002/03, he impressed with scoring a century and cemented his position. But till 2004, his position in the team was in and out, also named him as 12th Man.
In 2005, when he played against Bangladesh, he scored a century and picked up 6 wickets in the same match, becoming the first cricketer to do so.

He is also an underrated captain. He was the first captain to lead the founders of cricket English side to the victory of global title in 2010 ICC World Twenty20. Right now, many have been celebrating the victory of 2019 Cricket World Cup, but the seed was planted by him. 

He had also kept wickets once during 2008. He has been an excellent fielder, many comparing him with Jonty Rhodes. In 2007 Cricket World Cup, he picked up 8 catches, joint highest with Graeme Smith. He is known for his lonmg marathon innings, and a calm mindset both on the field and off the field.

But, his later career faded away and his numbers dropped constantly after 2010, which made him to retire in tests during 2012. From there, for a long period of time he hasn't been featured in International cricket, before he announced his retirement in 2017. He then started his career in coaching.

In ODIs, he played 197 matches, scoring 5,078 runs at an average of 35.51 with 5 hundreds and 26 fifties and picked up 111 wickets. In Test cricket, he scored 4,259 runs in 68 matches with 10 hundreds and 20 fifties at an average of 40.56 and picked up just 17 wickets. he has also featured in 2007 Leading Wisden Cricketers of the year. He even awarded MBE, an highest honour in England Cricket Team.



One of the greatest, which we failed to celebrate and respect, ended his career in a normal unusual way.