Collingwood makes test debut

By Jon Steer
December 2 2003

After missing out in Bangladesh, Paul Collingwood makes his test debut today in the first test against Sri Lanka after Nasser Hussein pulls out through illness.

Colly has been on the fringe of the test team for a while now but suffered a major set back when he missed most of the domestic season through injury. Had he been fit he would almost certainly have played his part in the summer test when England were short of batting.

His push for a test place was strengthened by good performances with the bat in the one day series against Bangladesh and also as the highest scorer in England's desperate performance in the only ODI against Sri Lanka.

After the disappointment of that one day series against Sri Lanka where England lost the first by ten wickets only to have any chance of a come back washed away by the rain everyone will be hoping that the weather doesn't have the same influence over the test series.

Colly place in the team is as a batsmen, but his selection will have been helped by his great fielding and the extra bowling option that it gives Michael Vauhan. The fielding skills were shown in the first wicket of the day when Colly caught Sanath Jayasuriya off the bowling of Ashley Giles just two runs short of his half-century.

Perhaps with a good performance and a but of luck Durham fans can hope that Colly retains his place and is joined by Steve Harmison for the West Indies tour in the new year.