Paul Collingwood

2006 Ashes were no booze cruise

Wed Sep 23 02:26PM

I haven't read Andrew Flintoff's quotes in full, but I am told he has likened the 2006/07 Ashes tour of Australia to a 'booze cruise', which surprises me.

Again, I don't know the complete context of his remarks, but I can say that in all my time playing for England we have been very professional individually and as a team in our preparations.

If that's his opinion, so be it, but I do not think we have been unprofessional. I take playing for England very seriously and prepare for each game as if it will be my last.

Each person is an individual, and they do different things on tour. Some people will go for a meal and have a couple of drinks, while others might stay in their hotel room.

From my point of view I have always thought the England team to be very professional.

On a lighter note, I had a belter of a question when we spoke to the media earlier on Wednesday. I was talking to several television crews when a lady from Indian TV asked if we should have more sex as cricketers.

I was a bit taken aback and thought I had heard her wrong, but it turns out that India coach Gary Kirsten has come out with a dossier saying your testosterone levels drop if you don't have sex.

She wanted to know if we had a similar dossier, but I can confirm it doesn't enter into the England gameplan!

We flew in to South Africa on Tuesday for the ICC Champions Trophy and had a runaround to get the journey out of our legs, and are just off for some proper training now.

Although we haven't got any warm-up games ahead of our first match against Sri Lanka on Friday, I don't think a lack of match practice will be a problem after seven one-dayers against Australia!

We will have a look at the wicket between now and Friday, and the only other thing we have to cope with is the altitude up here in Johannesburg.

We have to take as much confidence as we can from the last one-dayer against Australia.

It is easy to be negative, but we can beat anyone on our day and if we can build on a superb bowling performance we can definitely win.

Sri Lanka looked awesome against South Africa, and they have two quality spin bowlers in Muttiah Muralitharan and Ajantha Mendis who will be a real challenge.

We are without Kevin Pietersen for this tournament and we are all hoping he will be fit for the Test series against South Africa.

Of course you miss a world class batsman like KP, but we have just won the Ashes without him, and if he is not available there will be players ready to step up and fill the void.

Comments1 - 26 of 26

I was in Antigua in February and happened to be staying in the same hotel as the England squad. In all fairness, a lot of the guys, Colly included, spent most evenings in the restaurant playing cards. He was standing next to me at the bar one night and i said to him, "Half century from you tomorrow?" and he said, "Actually, I'm intending on getting a hundred!" The next day he got a ton!
There is absolutely no reason for me writing that, but it did happen!
From brybart69 on Wed Sep 23 02:54PM
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did Australia beat england 7-1?
From inverkenny on Wed Sep 23 03:04PM
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or did Australia beat england 7-0?
From inverkenny on Wed Sep 23 03:05PM
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Inverkenny.... Did England win the ashes? And which do we actually care about...... correct, the ashes, which we won
From mattockswinga on Wed Sep 23 03:26PM
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Inverkenny.... Did England win the ashes? And which do we actually care about...... correct, the ashes, which we won
From mattockswinga on Wed Sep 23 03:26PM
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inverkenny, did england win the ashes...... er yes, and which series do we ACTUALLY care about, thats right, the ashes!
From mattockswinga on Wed Sep 23 03:27PM
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inverkenny....neither....it was 6-1.
From brybart69 on Wed Sep 23 03:30PM
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Collingwood is clearly proud to have his England caps but he is also in my view extremely fortunate as his stats in non-test Cricket never justified his elevation. To be picked on the strength of your fielding is bizarre in the extreme. In all fairness he partially has offset his limitations by grit and determination but with his desperate summer he should really be preparing for a winter at home rather than assuming he's a shoe in to tour. I'm sure Collingwood does not piss-it-up whilst on England duty but it is the cozy assurance of a guaranteed place that needs to be criticised. There are over 50 ebglish qualified batsmen with better stats than him and its time that some of them were given a chance.
From pacranny on Wed Sep 23 04:25PM
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I'm not having a go here - but don't the England team speak to each other about things? I respect most of the team - especially Flintoff & Collingwood, but it just seems odd that they disagree on things and don't seem to communicate...
From m_kingswell on Wed Sep 23 04:59PM
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I don't think the players are unprofesional. Well maybe there are one or two who DID think it was a booze cruise. But he probably wanted it to be eh?
From gareth.surman on Wed Sep 23 06:24PM
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Think he was refering to himself Colly,not to a boring one dimensional
with a personality by-pass like you,not that i condone boozing as a must have for a test cicketer!
From andyganley on Wed Sep 23 06:27PM
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Typical Collingwood, loves to speak up on behalf of the management. It's the only way he keeps his place, I bet he clears up all the practice gear after nets as well.
Time for him to go, way past any effectiveness he may have had which was not much to start with. I doubt he would get a game with Durham now but he need not worry, along with a few others he will still be picked for England.
From bensafrimboy on Wed Sep 23 06:54PM
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I REMEMBAR AULD FREDDAY AN THOT BUS HE WAS AS DRANK AS A SKANK. PUL THA OLER WAN YEES WERE PISHED OPP TAY THA EYEBALS.
From donneymcclain on Wed Sep 23 07:23PM
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Well look at the test and one day ratings, where do England sit ? who cares and the ashes how boring was that, at least you can have a medal ceremony and have tea with your german queen, oh horah.
From escobarluca on Wed Sep 23 11:30PM
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My prediction for Colly's blog after this Sri Lanka game: We were too tired after the flight and from having played the same amount of cricket over the summer as an entusiastic club cricketer, even though they have to work 5 days a week as well and don't get upwards of 500K per year. Take into account the jet lag / Conditions/ lack of preparation at this altitude and the fact that Sri Lanka have a nasty fast bowler, two blokes who spin the ball and anyone of 5 batsmen who make one day hundreds and what do you expect? We've got to take a long look at ourselves/ score more runs / come together as a team/ pick ourselves up/ knockle down to some hard work / believe more in ourselves (take your pick of all or any). Blah blah. Why not just tell the truth, i.e. we're @#$% and most of us only in it for the money.
From i4nhart on Fri Sep 25 01:37PM
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i4nhart - Not sure those will be his exact words, given England's comfortable win and his own respectable performance today
From abaxterjs on Fri Sep 25 09:29PM
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brybart69 - whilst I don't doubt Colly's innocence your defence of Colly raises a few questions - Firstly you mention they spent the whole evening playing cards - been to a few card nights myself and I would ask whether card nights and booze cruises are mutualy exclusive?
Second, you mention an interaction between you and Colly at the bar, thats right you said the bar - now just how does Colly being at the bar show that he wasn't on a booze cruise?
Or were you just pretending to defend him whilst having a right old dig...
That he did go out the next day and knock up a ton shows that whatever he drank it certainly had the right effect and of course not to mention it was a different tour than the one refered to by Fred in his memoires.
From kevtimi on Sat Sep 26 10:13AM
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Kevtimi.., I was neither defending nor attacking Colly, just stating facts! But in answer to your worries, firstly, yes Colly, Broad, Anderson, Prior, KP and sometimes even Monty were playing cards.....most nights...but that doesn't mean there was lots of drinking going on, although i would imagine they had 2 or 3 beers over the course of the evening...it's hardly disgraceful behaviour is it!! They weren't out clubbing until the early hours and stealing pedaloe's at 4am though...as far as i'm aware, anyway! They have to kill time somehow, lots of it, and a few of the guys quietly playing cards infront of everyone else who was stopping at the hotel really isn't cause for concern. Infact, after the debacle of the Antigua test being called off at the first attempt, the players couldn't do enough for the England fans, giving autographs and posing for photo's at every opportunity, without a seconds thought. Secondly, yes, Colly went to the bar!! He may've had a beer, maybe 3! He could've had a juice, a coffee, a water.....i really wasn't taking notice though. All i know is, the Caribbean tour this year was no booze cruise, unless they did it on the quiet.....Doesn't mean the 2006/7 tour wasn't a drink fest though i guess! I imagine the Aussies are much bigger drinkers than the West Indians, so guys like Freddie could easily get led astray!
From brybart69 on Mon Sep 28 10:58AM
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i4nhart - want to admit you were totally wrong - again!
From andrewjohncocker on Mon Sep 28 11:49AM
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strange that this comes out now in 09. england lost because they did not play well plus when they had chances they did not follow through on them. as for booze i doubt in this day and age that a player would be that stupid.
From chriswhitakerisarugbygod on Thu Oct 01 04:47PM
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To say in 2009 that the 2006/7 Ashes failure had nothing to do with booze sounds like guilt to me. Either that or the last game is not worth a mention.
From buttyhome on Thu Oct 01 05:23PM
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I like Colly as a fighting cricketer-even though he didnt fire well in the recent Ashes but set the tone by saving a match at least! how many english cricket did it.., I doubt the number!!
But overall, it looks like getting into the semies was the goal of this team/management to save their skins..!after those two fantastic wins they lost their plot totally..and eventhough they came back well today after those hopeless fall of top & middle order, courtesy to luke n tim..but it doesnt look to be a winning target on this placid wicket..shah gets into the extreme so often..in the aussie series he was below the confidence and one innings here took him over it..colly should stay in the crease till the end to get england past 300 and could give them a certain chance to reach final..let see..if the bowlers can do anyth extra ordinary under the lights!!..finger corssed..!
From sja_m on Fri Oct 02 05:29PM
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thiws from the holy Joe found in a strip club at 3 in the morning???!
From abqaiq29 on Mon Oct 05 10:08AM
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colly is my neighbor and he said andrew flintoff has his own opinion, but i know we like to play cricket and enjoy.he also said it was not a booze cruise mainly because they lost 5-0. mind u yesterday he said he was chuffed about winning2-1 this year
From martin.d.drury on Sat Nov 21 06:26PM
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Andrew Flintoff's a waster. Collingwood's a top player and top man!
From goatlps on Thu Nov 26 02:02AM
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...Anyway - Isn't a 'booze cruise' when someone goes on the ferry to France, or somewhere, to buy and bring back cheap alcohol (not drinking it whilst doing so)? Market traders do it.
From goatlps on Thu Nov 26 02:06AM
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