Collingwood being careful
England one-day captain Paul Collingwood is urging caution with regards to Andrew Flintoff’s return to Test match cricket.
It seems the 30-year-old is fit enough after having a fourth operation on his left ankle last October. But his form with bat and ball could not be more contrasting.
He has bagged a pair in the current LV County Championship Division One match against Durham at Old Trafford, but he has also taken seven wickets with the prospect of more to come on the third day.
Collingwood said: “I am not an England selector. But from what I have seen this week he is pretty much back to his best with the ball.
“What I have faced over the past few days has been scary stuff and some exceptional bowling.
“He has certainly enjoyed that wind up his backside this week and ran in really hard. It’s been impressive. He has bowled at around about 90mph and got the ball to shape away a bit.
“Like Freddie always does he hits areas that are very difficult to score off never mind defend.
“Whether he has had enough overs under his belt, who knows. You will have to ask Freddie himself how the ankle feels.
“We do have to be careful. Obviously Freddie has had a few operations on that ankle and we don’t want to rush him back too soon.”
On the batting issue Collingwood continued: “I am sure he is a little concerned with the batting and he would probably have liked a few more runs than he has got. But he is one of those types of batters who can click with just one shot.
Andrew Flintoff was out for his third successive duck at Old Trafford, against Durham “He is destructive on his day. He can get one ball out of the middle and then it just clicks again. I am sure that it is some of the wickets that he has played on as well.
“This time of year they are difficult to play on. I am not trying to make excuses for him but there are some difficult conditions for batting out there.
“I can tell you that having batted on them myself over the past few weeks. Hopefully that big innings for him is just around the corner.”
Collingwood’s own form is also debatable. He has scored just 32 runs in five innings in all forms of the game. His highest score was 25 against Derbyshire in the Friends Provident Trophy last Friday.
He continued: “I have never really got going in the last few games. I have only played four or five games for Durham and have not yet made a contribution for them.
“That is perhaps more disappointing than getting form ahead of the Test match. I am sure that everybody has got me down as the first one off the team sheet but I am a battler.
“It is disappointing not to score runs but the big ones could be just around the corner.”
Collingwood expects England to beat New Zealand in the forthcoming three-match series to be played at Lord’s, Old Trafford and Trent Bridge, but refuses to underestimate them
Collingwood continued: “I wouldn’t say that you expect to beat anybody at home but we will be disappointed if we don’t beat New Zealand.
“They proved in New Zealand that they are a very hard team to beat, especially the way they bat all the way down - Vettori coming in at eight and McCullum just doing whatever he wants to do at seven. But hopefully we have got the attack to get through them.”
Paul Collingwood has been struggling for runs himself so far this season © Getty Images
