Colly's wobble

'Think carefully about your next move' © AFP Enlarge

"I've never been in that situation before. I don't think I've even been on the field as a player [when a decision like that has been made]. In hindsight I wish I had called him back.
Paul Collingwood owns up after the game that he was wrong

"I said to Paul, 'Are you sure you want to uphold this appeal bearing in mind the spirit of the game?'. I tried to give him some time by going over to Steve Davis at square leg while Grant Elliott was being treated. I didn't want to pressurise him into a decision. I'm not going to say whether he did the right thing. That's up to him."
Umpire Mark Benson gives his close-up view of the incident

"In the heat of battle, Collingwood followed his instincts... That doesn't make the decision right. It wasn't - and he acknowledged as much after the match."
Nasser Hussain, a fiery competitors in his time, sympathises

"I was incensed with what happened and the whole group of players were. We couldn't understand it, sitting up there on the balcony... But Paul has come and spoken to us, apologised and acted in a contrite way. We'll move on from the situation and hopefully it doesn't happen again... That match was as tense as it gets and we were apologetic for maybe the way we acted on the balcony."
Daniel Vettori is gracious enough to admit his team's reaction to the incident may have been unseemly as well

"This was the worst incident involving an England captain since Mike Gatting argued with umpire Shakoor Rana 21 years ago and Paul Collingwood's reputation may be sullied forever."
Paul Newman takes the historical view in the Daily Mail

"If there has been good feeling between these two sides, it's gone. It's gone in that moment.
Catastrophe, Ian Smith declares on air

"Imagine, though, if England had won. It is difficult to imagine how Collingwood could have apologised with a straight face; difficult, too, to envisage how the New Zealanders might have felt able to accept it.
Michael Atherton turns his thoughts to what might have been

"Collingwood could have said it was an unfair call, but he was in his rights to throw it over to the umpires... It's not like the players make the rules - they don't give themselves out, the umpires are there to do that."
Mark Richardson is one of few voices in Collingwood's favour. He goes on to mention the incident in 2006 when New Zealand ran out Muttiah Muralitharan when he left his crease to congratulate his fellow batsman

"When a man as decent as Paul Collingwood gets drawn into temporarily seeking a win at all costs, it is just further confirmation that cricket has sacrificed any right to the moral high ground."
Simon Hughes ponders what a pass the game has come to

"This was a match that will be remembered for England cocking a snook at the spirit of the game, something enshrined within the law."
Mike Selvey thinks the spirit of cricket has taken a beating ...

"I feel for both sides in terms of what has been going on, I think both have been quite manly in terms of apologising and I think in general all of us are trying to make the spirit of cricket better and I think it's a responsibility we all have."
... Graeme Smith thinks it hasn't quite