Two fringe-men have made it count.
I had referred to Kulasekara as a 'journey-man' in an earlier post. 59.4 overs, 12 wickets out of a total 40 to have fallen, at a cost of 12.83 per wicket later, I am not sure these are the stats of a journeyman.
If Sri Lanka keep their cool, the series will be over today and Kulasekara would have had no mean part, whatever be the outcome. From being a prop in a line-up with names such as Murali, Vaas, Mendis and Fernando, Kulasekara has had his moment in the sun.
The other fringe-man has always made it count. Paul Collingwood stepped into the breach, yet again. Collingwood suffers the same fate as VVS Laxman did for the most of his career. He, for some reason was considered the most expendable of the middle-order batsmen, playing perennially for survival. A middle order prop, to bat somewhere between the glamour boys KP and Flintoff. Nothing more.
To me, he is the quintessential team-man. Be it, dragging England by the bootstraps to some respectable total, hard running and smart play in ODIs, or sheer doggedness as shown in this rearguard action - Collingwood is the man. He was never in the limelight (He never will be, with his nudges and shovels) in a team with KP and Flintoff, but he is one person Strauss can rely on to give his best everytime, unnoticed.
I have seen three of his innings which typefies the player he is. None of them remarkable for any great batting quality, but the timeliness of the effort.
1. The maiden hundred at Nagpur in 2006 to put up a total of 400 in a match they were expected to turn up and lose.
2. The double hundred which was strangely a support innings to KP's 150 plus at Adelaide.
3. The second innings hundred to support Strauss' hundred in Chennai in that test match - while Cook, Bell, KP and Flintoff all made single digit scores.
Typically, 1 was a draw and 2 and 3 were remarkable wins - for England's opponents. That has been the theme of Collingwood's career, although 9 hundreds and 15 fifties in 49 Tests suggests a 'maximiser'.
Go well Colly. You deserve your place in the sun.
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For Sri Lanka, Kulasekara is chugging along well and add to that the likes of Angelo and Maharoof, things are looking good.
ReplyDeleteColly used to be the only reason I watched England. No other player used to interest me and then somewhere down the line he totally lost it. I think it was that incident at the strip club. Since then, he was a gonner and it is nice watching him come back to his usual self. I for one thought he was done for good.
Cheers
Late, where are you man? Have been checking to see if you've got anything new up for quite a while, but no such luck.
ReplyDeleteFark here - and I write at:
morethanjustagame.wordpress.com