CRICKET : Two gritty batsmen from different ends of the experience spectrum have put England 1-0 up against South Africa – and captain Andrew Strauss is delighted to have both in his team.
Two gritty batsmen from different ends of the experience spectrum have put England 1-0 up against South Africa – and captain Andrew Strauss is delighted to have both in his team.
Paul Collingwood marked his England record 171st one-day international cap with his fifth hundred – an unbeaten 105 – and Jonathan Trott, his partner in a 162-run stand, added 87 in a seven-wicket win with four overs to spare at Centurion.
Collingwood described his “perfect and proud” day – and Strauss underlined the well-deserved achievement hailing the Twenty20 skipper as “always dangerous” while labelling Trott as in “exceptional” form.
“Whenever there is a player with his temperament, they are always dangerous,” Strauss said of Collingwood.
“They always like the difficult situations – and Colly’s played a lot of his best innings for England when our backs have been against the wall. As an opponent, I know you worry about players like that.”
Trott, meanwhile, put in a major contribution on only his second ODI appearance.
“Trotty’s form on this tour has been exceptional,” added Strauss. “We had no worries about him opening the batting – he’s done it a lot for Warwickshire and is a quality player all round.
“He’s a very determined character – there’s no doubt about that.
“He loves batting, genuinely loves it – and allied to that, he’s got a very solid technique which is well-suited to the international game.
“We don’t want to put too much pressure on him. It is very early in his career, and he’s shown he’s got great ability – but we shouldn’t expect great things of him every time he goes into bat.”
