‘The way I played goes against my coaching methods’

Paul Collingwood has joined England as assistant coach for the West Indies tour and Twenty20 World Cup. (ICC)Donald McRae/Guardian News Service “When I first started playing for England we were shit. We were pretty poor,” Paul Collingwood says, his face creasing in amusement as he remembers his international debut in 2001 with the kind of frank humour and clear language which can only benefit the current national team.Collingwood has joined an England squad still recovering from the humiliation suffered in Australia and the controversy surrounding the decision to exclude Kevin Pietersen permanently. His contract as England’s assistant coach on a brief tour of the West Indies and during the Twenty20 World Cup in Bangladesh only lasts seven weeks, but a long and involving interview is an invigorating reminder that Collingwood will bring so much more to a beleaguered squad. Having made exactly 300 international appearances, Collingwood is the only Englishman to have captained a World Cup-winning side. He led England to victory four years ago, in the Caribbean, with Pietersen being the player of that t20 tournament. Amid the post-Ashes mess it’s timely to hear Collingwood’s wry memories of previous dark days. “In one-day games Duncan Fletcher [then England’s coach] would say, ‘Guys, just try and bat for 50 overs.’ That was, literally, our goal because we kept being bowled out in the 38th or 42nd over. Duncan would say, ‘It doesn’t matter how many we get just bat 50 overs.’” Collingwood cackles at a deserted Riverside, home of his beloved Durham, whom he captained to the county championship against all odds last season. He is so refreshingly upbeat it’s easy to believe England’s spirits have already been lifted. Clichéd descriptions of Collingwood as “happy-go-lucky” or “a grafter” are trundled out whenever his contribution is assessed. He was part of three Ashes-winning campaigns, scored 10 Test centuries, and is rightly lauded as the ultimate “team-player”. Layered and subtleBut Collingwood has always been much more layered and subtle than his cheery stereotype. Last month, in another indication of his abilities, he coached Scotland through a taxing qualification tournament into next year’s 50-over World Cup. “Cricket is moving forward at a hell of a rate and I saw some of the Scottish guys doing things I’d never have been able to do. I love the fact that the game is so much better than it ever was when I played international cricket. Lots of people say: ‘It was a lot better in our day.’ It’s just not.” Describing him as the “perfect” player, Fletcher once used Collingwood to stress his belief that selection should be based on character rather than talent. It’s an old-fashioned view which Collingwood transcends. “I wouldn’t have played international cricket if it was not for Duncan Fletcher. At the time he picked me I was averaging 28 in county cricket and Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick were similar. We owe a lot to him. English cricket was quite low then and you needed the right characters. “But the game has changed so much. It’s amazing but the way that I played cricket almost goes against my coaching methods.  I don’t want people to play like I did. The game is more powerful and even in Test cricket guys are hitting the ball a lot harder than even five years ago. You still want guys to make long innings  look at Brendon McCullum recently  but he’s amazingly powerful.

‘Need your x-factor players’“Today you need your x-factor players, your mavericks and different personalities, because people express themselves at a whole new level.  You don’t need robots. In fact you cannot have robots anymore. If you’re going to win things you’re going to have to give these mavericks a leash and allow them to perform. They can’t all be like that but team dynamics have changed. Look at Australia. Going into the Ashes I thought they were ready to blow up. There seemed no real team ethic. But see what they’re doing now with these maverick players. They can blow you away.” Australia’s turnaround under another clear-thinker in Darren Lehmann bolsters Collingwood’s belief that a team’s fortunes can change for the better “almost immediately if you get the environment right. Relaxing players and giving them belief is the most powerful thing you can inject into any team.” Pietersen remains England’s best cricketer, so what does Collingwood think of his exclusion especially after underlining the importance of the “x-factor maverick”? “It’s disappointing as an England fan that relationships have broken down. I’m not blaming either side, but that’s the disappointing thing you’ve got such an amazing player and he’s not going to be involved with England again. “There were times when I played with KP when he frustrated the living hell out of you  in a way people on the outside wouldn’t know  but I always knew he could win player of the tournament or a World Cup.  But you have to trust the guys in the know. These aren’t easy decisions and they [the ECB] obviously think this is for the best of the team over a long period. You have to make decisions for the good of the team over the next five years and not just the next five months.” Was he surprised by Pietersen’s axing? “Not at all, not after the texting scandal. If he’d gone then everyone would have understood. “But they let him back in and it almost feels as if it’s KP’s fault we lost the Ashes. It’s not. The timing seems a bit bad but we play Australia in four years and need to rebuild with the right people.”