Is Collingwood underrated?

After my piece on Owais Shah a lively debate ensued, which included this gem of a comment from Sunny Singh: “Some place on earth, a local government has banned mentioning Paul Collingwood and Sachin Tendulkar in the same sentence if batting is being discussed. “

Now, there aren't many current batsmen who merit being mentioned in the same sentence as Sachin Tendulkar, but I suspect Sunny was being rather more disparaging about Collingwood than merely pointing out that he is not one of the all-time greats. His implication seemed to be that Colly isn't even really a Test batsman, let alone a good one, and even if that was not Sunny's intent, there are quite a few fans who subscribe to a view pretty close to it, which got me wondering how fair an assessment it is.

His international debut was as an ODI player. He was able to knock the ball around constructively in overs 20-40 with the bat and deliver some reasonably economical overs of medium-pace in the corresponding period with the ball, and rounded the package off by being an electric fielder at backward point. Bits-and-pieces players rarely do well in Test cricket, and little was expected when he made his Test debut as an emergency backup for an unfit Nasser Hussain in the first match of the 2003-04 series in Sri Lanka.

His first innings of 1 was disappointing but the second innings held promise of things to come, had we known it at the time. At 38, it was numerically unimpressive, but it took 153 balls in just under three hours as England battled, eventually successfully, to save the match against Murali bowling on his favourite ground in Galle. Collingwood was rewarded with another cap in the next match even though Hussain was fit to return, and he obliged with another couple of long-drawn-out 20-odds as England staved off another defeat. He was dropped for the third match, which Sri Lanka promptly won by an innings and 200 to take the series.

It was a mixed beginning. No one had expected the ODI specialist to show such adhesiveness, but equally no one had expected him to be virtually strokeless. He looked like a fox warily trying to escape a pack of hounds, every ball being treated as a potentially fatal thrust, the relief as each was survived evident on his face. The view quickly took hold that he was a batsman of very limited ability who had found Test cricket extremely difficult.

His next appearance did nothing to change that impression. 7 and 10 in a total of 77 balls was hardly an Ashes-winning effort, but he still collected an MBE for being part of the squad. Australians guffawed and confected some synthetic outrage, despite it being no more absurd than the World Cup winners medals collected by Adam Dale, Shane Lee or Jimmy Maher.

Collingwood paid them back for disrespect by scoring a double hundred at Adelaide in the return series, and made good on the MBE this year by being the first England men's captain to lift an ICC limited-over trophy, which would have made him a shoo-in for a gong if he hadn't already got one.

From 2006 to 2008 he was permanently on notice as being liable for the axe if he didn't perform, and would certainly have been sent back to county cricket if he had not made a lively century against South Africa at Edgbaston. Over the next twelve months, though, he dug in for several match-saving innings, particularly in the 2009 Ashes, which earned him much kudos as well as gratitude from the supporting public, standing him in good stead for his slump in this summer's Tests.

I fancy, though, that he gained more credit in team circles for his more anonymous performances as support to the stroke-players. Like Herbert Sutcliffe supporting Jack Hobbs, his function was to give as much strike as possible to Kevin Pietersen or Ian Bell or whoever else was going to play a pyrotechnic solo while he kept the rhythm going on the bass.

In the meantime, he was racking up more ODI appearances than any other England player – and also racking up more ODI sixes than anyone else. In terms of sixes per match, there are bigger hitters, but the sheer number of them puts a big hole in the theory that he is a very limited batsman. He has never lost that rather hunted look, but if you view him positively rather than trying to find fault, it could simply be intense concentration.

Having fully subscribed to the conventional theory in the past, I am changing my mind. Collingwood's strength is that he plays the innings that the team wants from him at any given time, adapting his style to the needs of the moment. Particularly in Test cricket, it would not usually be great tactics for him to play all the shots he knows: he is far better off playing second fiddle to the virtuoso when things are going well and blocking away when the situation is dire.

This does not put him in the SR Tendulkar class, of course, but he can perhaps be seen as following the path of someone like SR Waugh. He is never going to be regarded as one of the greats, but reviewing his career has convinced me that he deserves more respect than he has generally had.