Paul Collingwood has to be one of England’s most unlikely record-breakers, but there it was, in black and white – in the second ODI against South Africa in Centurion he won his 171st cap, overtaking Alec Stewart to become England’s leading ODI player. But is Collingwood one of the best 10 players to have played the game for England?
Opening the batting would be two giants of English cricket but two very different personalities. Graham Gooch was a strange figure, apparently dour, heavy-jawed, addicted to fitness, the antipathy of the seemingly carefree Gower, but he was a run machine. His 129* against the mighty West Indies at Port of Spain was steely stuff. Another hundred in the 1987 World Cup semi-final against India got England into the final, and from then on he was England’s backbone. Had it not been for disastrous tours of apartheid South Africa he would have made even more runs.
Sometimes people get too technical about cricket, and over-complicate it. Marcus Trescothick reminded fans how simple it can be – stand upright, wait for the bowler, give the ball a huge crack with a big old bat. Running is for athletes, and you can’t be caught in row F. Trescothick was England’s only answer when the ODI game moved on from slow starts, build slowly, to pinch hitting. The shot that really sticks in the mind was at The Oval in 2003, facing Shoaib Akhtar bowling at full pace – he simply flicked his bat at the passing ball to send it into the old pavilion. Sadly he found life is not so simple, and his disclosure of a mental illness was as honest as it was moving.
Allan Lamb’s masterpiece was an amazing match-winning 77 against Australia in Sydney in 1987. In many ways it was typical Lamb – ungainly, borderline ugly, his timing was all over the place as he limped to 50 with no boundaries. Suddenly he hit big Bruce Reid for a six and three fours and England won the match with one ball to spare. Lamb was braver than given credit for.
He was exasperating, even irritating, but David Gower was England’s best batsman for a decade, and that included the one-day game as well as Tests. The middle of his three tons against New Zealand in 1983 was particularly majestic. Gower made 158 in a total of 267, including four sixes he simply cuffed into the crowd on the leg side. He scored quickly and he scored big runs in that ethereal manner which made his colleagues look workmanlike.
Kevin Pietersen was in danger of being over-hyped by the time he had qualified for England, but actually the danger might have been we didn’t realise how good he was. After a gentle introduction to ODIs against Zimbabwe he was thrown into the lions’ den against South Africa. His response was emphatic, while all around him were falling Pietersen hit three stunning hundreds, plus a 75 in a total of 183 all out. A superb eye, ability to improvise and enormous power are his strengths, and his footwork is always decisive. When he was made captain the results were impressive, only bad weather denied him a 5-0 whitewash of South Africa at home.
Batting in the middle order is difficult in one-day internationals – time and overs are running out, wickets have fallen, and you are charged with seeing the team home. No-one was better at that than Neil Fairbrother. The left-hander drove opposing bowling mad with his mixture of nudges, nurdles, running like a hare and then a full-blooded pull over the infield. When he took a full-strength West Indies team apart at Lord’s in 1991 it looked like the breakthrough for the Lancashire lad in Tests, but a weakness outside his off stump meant that never happened. He was England’s rock in three World Cups.
Stattos always complained that Andrew Flintoff’s figures didn’t reflect his influence in Tests – that’s not true in ODIs. His figures are outstanding for an all-rounder – three hundreds and a 99 batting in the middle order, 169 wickets at an average of under 25, and 47 nonchalant catches. Superb stuff, but Flintoff’s real influence was his miserliness in giving away runs – on his day he was almost impossible to hit, bowling fast, inswinging yorkers. Perhaps his biggest influence was on the crowd – at home a roar would go up every time he came in to bat or bowl.
Darren Gough was England’s heartbeat for a decade, their best strike bowler until injuries eventually beat the seemingly invincible Yorkshireman. It wasn’t just Gough’s 235 wickets, it was the uplifting effect he had on the team – at times a poor and introspective team, Gough may have been eccentric – mad even – but he was the sort of character you want on your team, not the other side’s.
Ian Botham approached ODIs like he approached everything else in life – let’s give it a shot, whatever the circumstances. He will be remembered as much for his attempted reverse sweep against Australia in 1985 – it went horribly wrong – as for his tremendous hitting and bowling which at times was seriously quick. It was his attitude which made him – he simply refused to admit anything was a lost cause. Brilliant fielder too.
Phillip DeFreitas was one of the great enigmas of English cricket. He burst onto the scene aged just 21 and looked like a world-beater against Australia, but was never quite the new Botham that England were looking for. When he was good though he was very good – his crucial 33 against Pakistan in 1987 contained one of the biggest sixes ever seen at Edgbaston. His bowling could be penetrative and his fielding electric, but he was never a great player away from England.