“It was obviously pretty prehistoric in terms of the way they went about things. You could see that in the results they got.” Paul Collingwood’s verdict on England’s performance in the World Cup might just be the most apt epitaph yet.
Tim Wigmore05-Jun-2015″It was obviously pretty prehistoric in terms of the way they went about things. You could see that in the results they got.” Paul Collingwood’s verdict on England’s performance in the World Cup might just be the most apt epitaph yet.Collingwood, who was coaching Scotland during the World Cup, remains the only Englishman to lift a global limited overs trophy: the 2010 World T20 in the Caribbean.”We’ve always played catch-up in the one-day form of the game,” he said, though he believes England have been handicapped by conditions that render attacking the new ball far harder than in other parts of the world. “Whenever we tried it in English conditions, it never quite worked because of the seam movement and all this business. We kind of get halfway and then always resort back to the more conservative plan. But now there is a real sense of ‘we’ve got to do this’ because we’re getting nowhere playing conservative cricket.”The guys in world cricket now who have taken the game to the next level are people like AB de Villiers, Glenn Maxwell, David Warner, Chris Gayle and they are playing as if they are in the back yard. It’s as if there are no consequences on their wicket whatsoever. Somehow a coach has to get that environment, certainly in the one-day form of the game, to where he can say ‘lads, you’re backed, don’t worry, you have games to fail, go out there and prove what you can do’. I think that is an important factor in how to get the utmost amount of skills from each player.”In his role as Durham captain, Collingwood has seen a new breed of English one-day batsman emerge, and is adamant that there is “a hell of a lot of talent” around, if only it is allowed to flourish. He is particularly excited about Alex Hales, aghast that England failed to give him “a good year of cricket” before the World Cup after his century against Sri Lanka in last year’s World T20.While Collingwood briefly worked as an England coach last year, he no longer has a formal role in the set-up. But Collingwood has discussed a potential role with Andrew Strauss, the new director of England cricket. “I’ve spoken to him but nothing concrete. It was just to see what my position was moving forward,” Collingwood says. “The experience of playing for England for so many years, that’s where you feel you belong, in that dressing room wearing the three lions. You’re never guaranteed a job when you come out of cricket but if there was a role they wanted us to play somewhere it would be hard to turn down.”Not that Collingwood is planning on giving up county cricket just yet. Having vowed that the 2014 season would be his last, Collingwood played so well that he decided to play on again. After an even better start to 2015 – he already has two Championship centuries and a five-for – he could again postpone his retirement. “I actually found a cover drive,” he laughs. “I would have thought I’d have another year of playing, I’m still enjoying it and love trying to help develop the youngsters up at Durham who are coming through.”One of those, Mark Wood, made quite an impression in his debut Test series against New Zealand. Not that Collingwood was surprised. “He has got great skills, a fast bowler who can swing the ball both ways. In any side is going to be hard to combat.”The great thing about Woody is that he has taken his character into that dressing room, he doesn’t seem to be scared of the environment which is a real positive. I think that will be good for the England dressing room because he’s a good guy to have around. He is a bit mad but he’s a great guy and I think he can bring more to the dressing room in terms of his skills out in the middle. He’s still very young and still has more development to come.”In a month’s time, Wood is likely to be playing in the Ashes, where Collingwood believes that England’s best chance lies in channelling a little of the buccaneering spirit of 2005.”It came after the Lord’s Test – I remember being in a meeting at Edgbaston and talking about taking it to the Aussies, not aggressively, but more in the way we play,” he says. “It was a real shift because we knew Warne was going to take wickets against us but can we make him go for four-an-over rather than two-and-a-half-an-over?””I can see England being in a similar situation now. We’re the underdogs again, nobody is expecting much from the Ashes but we have an opportunity there. It probably only takes one player like Freddie did in that series to re-ignite the love of the game again and really get the nation behind the team.”His Durham colleague Ben Stokes is indeed “the obvious one”. But Collingwood also expects Moeen Ali to surprise, especially with Australia likely to play two left-arm pace bowlers. “The pace that he bowls means he is going to be tricky, landing in the footholds they create outside off stump,” he says. “I think Moeen Ali is going to be underrated.”
