Cricket: Collingwood Wants Chance to Cement Test Place

Paul Collingwood is in restive mood as he waits to see if England award him his first home Test cap against New Zealand at Headingley tomorrow. Miss this opportunity and he will suspect that his Test career will never reach fruition.

Collingwood is highly respected within the England set-up. He is the model professional, the committed trainer, a vital cog in the one-day side. England's coach Duncan Fletcher sets great store by his dependability.

But for the first Test at Lord's dependability was not enough. Collingwood began to wonder about glass ceilings as England opted to replace their injured captain Michael Vaughan with a fellow opening batsman in Middlesex's Andrew Strauss.

Strauss made a consummate hundred on debut, won the sympathy vote as he was run out by Nasser Hussain, was hailed as a future England captain and generally looked so assured that Hussain voluntarily rushed into retirement.

Strauss even gained a dressing-room nickname, the ultimate sign of acceptance. The England players have noted a well-modulated accent and a degree in economics and nicknamed him Lord Brocket. At Middlesex, where well-modulated accents are 10 a penny, it will never stick.

Collingwood, the stand-by batsman, stood by, forgotten in the acclaim. And, if Strauss could jump the queue at Lord's, who will be the next to overtake him? Robert Key received considerable media support last week before the England selectors put the emphasis on loyalty. Ian Bell, hailed two years ago as a teenage prodigy, is beginning to stir. And Kevin Pietersen, Nottinghamshire's intensely ambitious South African-born batsman, qualifies for England at the end of the summer.

For all his vitality, all his team ethic, Collingwood knows that, at 28, this summer will determine his Test future. "It is a funny situation," he said yesterday. "I never thought that I would miss out quite like that, but it has happened. It is tough when things like this keep happening to you and chances slip by, but you have to keep working on your game.

"Andy Strauss has done fantastically well. He is a great lad and a great cricketer and deserves to keep his spot. I have played against him a lot in the last three years and he has always scored runs against Durham."

So Collingwood glances at murky Leeds skies and pins his faith in the Headingley phenomenon. With every drop of rain that fell yesterday his chances of a third Test cap improved as the clamour grew to leave out the left-arm slows of Ashley Giles and employ Collingwood as an extra batsman and fifth seamer.

"Obviously it is between myself and Ashley Giles," he said, "but a lot will depend on what the pitch is like so we will probably have to wait until the last minute."

Vaughan is far from convinced by the all-seam argument. He has played enough at Headingley to know that under blue skies, early in the match, this swing bowlers' haven can become so docile that Giles's ability to block up a session would be invaluable. Students of folklore, though, will point to Giles's figures in his only Test at Headingley - one for 162 against India two years ago. There again, England did concede 628 for eight and lose by an innings.

If Collingwood does play, his medium-pace outswingers have at least had an outing in the championship this season, although six wickets at 40 hardly suggests his 66 overs have all gone clickety-click.

"It has helped to get back into the county game and get these overs under my belt," he said. "I have never really known my own game bowling. I haven't worked on it as hard as I should have done.

"Playing one-day cricket, the white ball doesn't swing as much as the red ball. Swinging the ball is my main strength so people don't always see what I can do at one-day level."

The one time the white ball swung was in Napier and he took four wickets. So, given overcast Headingley skies and a red ball, New Zealand will be wary. But Collingwood sounded like a decent cricketer searching for a new role. It was a far from persuasive argument.

James Anderson, the least likely of England's fast bowlers to play at Leeds, was released from the squad yesterday because of a bruised heel. Kent's Martin Saggers has been called up as cover.