World Cup 2019: England assistant coach Paul Collingwood takes the field in warm-up game vs Australia
Collingwood, as it turns out, had an eye surgery earlier this week.
It seems the entertaining factor of the ICC World Cup 2019 has come into play even as the warm-up matches are underway. On Friday, Afghanistan produced with brilliant teamwork to beat Pakistan by three wickets in Bristol, leaving their supporters in boundless joy. On Saturday, yet another interesting episode caught the cricket fans’ eyes and it was during the game between hosts England and defender Australia in their warm-up game in Southampton.
It so happened that after England’s acting captain Jos Buttler won the toss and asked Aron Finch’s Australia to bat first at the Rose Bowl, Southampton. Soon, the turn of events was such that the hosts’ assistant coach Paul Collingwood also took part in the game! Yes, the 42-year-old former England captain and all-rounder was seen running around on the ground as a sub-fielder, leaving the fans startled as well as impressed.
Collingwood’s fitness level made them go wow. That after having undergone an eye surgery earlier this week. Australia were off to a decent start despite losing captain Finch early as David Warner hit 43 off 55 balls. Shaun Marsh and Steve Smith scored a couple of 30s and the Kangaroos were 128 for 3 around the halfway mark of the innings.
Liam Plunkett took two wickets for the Three Lions. England’s regular captain Eoin Morgan suffered a finger injury during a practice session on the eve of the warm-up game and keeper-batsman Buttler stepped in to lead the side.
Collingwood won England T20 World Cup in 2010
Collingwood, who was fielding for the England side wearing their World Cup kit which resembles that of 1992 when the Three Lions ended up as the runners-up, played 197 ODIs for England between 2001 and 2011 and scored over 5,000 runs and took 111 wickets. Recently, Morgan bettered his record of playing the most number of ODIs for England.
Here are the approaching milestones for the English players – World Cup 2019: Approaching milestones for the England players
Collingwood was also at the helm when England had gone on to win the T20 World Cup in the West Indies in 2010, beating Australia in the final. He played three World Cups with his final ODI being the match against Bangladesh in the 2011 edition.
Here is how fans reacted to the incident:
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