Collingwood or Thorpe- Who would you want batting........

........for your life?

I'd go for Thorpey. Almost invariably came through for England when under pressure. Tough as teak, and better to watch than Colly.

Bell.

I knew someone would say that.......

Thorpe.

Both.

Bell

Thorpe did have a period where he went off the boil a bit though. Collingwood has looked hopelessly out of form at times, only to come back in the next test and put in a match winning/saving performance. I'll go with Collingwood.

He's probably my favourite England player at the moment, which is rare as I usually prefer bowlers. He's also superman don't you know (and I know this has been posted many a time but it never gets old ):

buckSH wrote:Bell

5 hours 18 minutes too late to be original.

I suppose imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but sorry bucks, old thing, I'm very much taken, and not into that kind of thing. You'll have to direct your love elsewhere.

Tough choice.
Wobbles nudges it - JUST - for me.

I'm a serious Thropey supporter and was pissed off when Vawn dumped on him in '05 ... but would have to say, despite his frequent lapses in form, Wobbles' stickablity and sheer bloodyminded doggedness in the face of adversity has to pinch it from Thorpey.
Also, as Vilks's vid shows, Wobbles has to be one of the best fielders in the world right now ... immensely superior to Thorpe.

Thorpe was a one in two chance slipper. Geez, did he drop some absolute sitters, although he did take some pearlers too.

Thorpe does have a superior average in a much harder generation of bowlers. In this day and age where 45 is merely good, Collingwood doesn't even average that.

I personally thought Thorpe's average flattered him, and felt a lot of his contributions came when the series is gone. Yes, I am sure someone will point out his meaningful contributions in alive matches.

So all in all, I am going with Collingwood.

Thorpe was a class above Collingwood, bloody bandwagoners!

Paul Keating wrote:Thorpe was a one in two chance slipper. Geez, did he drop some absolute sitters,

Who will ever forget him dropping Matthew Elliott at Headingley 97 in his 20s as Australia was in deep sh!t at 4-52. Steve Waugh had just been dismissed, a recalled Ricky Ponting had just strode to the wicket, and Thorpe dropped an absolute spoon from Elliott off the poor unfortunate Mike Smith. Elliott and Ponting went on to add 268 for the 5th wicket and set up (with the help of Gillespie and Rieffel with the ball) a big victory.

Although 2 classes below in catching and fielding obviously...

Pretty much everyone is below Collingwood in the catching and fielding bit though. Thorpe only became a problem catching wise towards the end of his career.

And I do still love watching that Colly catch, just for the "Oh you're f*cking joking" expression on Matt Hayden's face.

Thorpe was a better batsman than Collingwood, there's no doubt about that. He was also a fighter too. But there's just something about the way Collingwood seems to revel in hopeless situations that's downright perverse.

Shoeshine wrote:Pretty much everyone is below Collingwood in the catching and fielding bit though. Thorpe only became a problem catching wise towards the end of his career.

And I do still love watching that Colly catch, just for the "Oh you're f*cking joking" expression on Matt Hayden's face.

Thorpe was a better batsman than Collingwood, there's no doubt about that. He was also a fighter too. But there's just something about the way Collingwood seems to revel in hopeless situations that's downright perverse.

Thorpe would be in my team ahead of Collingwood purely as a batsmen for certain, but who would I want to bat for my life? Colly every time.

vilkrang wrote:

Shoeshine wrote:Pretty much everyone is below Collingwood in the catching and fielding bit though. Thorpe only became a problem catching wise towards the end of his career.

And I do still love watching that Colly catch, just for the "Oh you're f*cking joking" expression on Matt Hayden's face.

Thorpe was a better batsman than Collingwood, there's no doubt about that. He was also a fighter too. But there's just something about the way Collingwood seems to revel in hopeless situations that's downright perverse.

Thorpe would be in my team ahead of Collingwood purely as a batsmen for certain, but who would I want to bat for my life? Colly every time.

It's not that easy to think of a batsman in the front ranked Test teams who isn't a better batsman than Colly! But he's a stubborn, cussed, awkward son of a bitch who just refuses to admit he isn't good enough and has to be dragged kicking and screaming from the crease. So I tend to agree that Colly is the one. A good article about him raised the interesting point that it's curious that the Australians don't seem to like him much, when his obduracy and determination are characteristics that often appeal to them.

2 time ashes winner. Legend

Hard to believe he only has an MBE really...

A knighthood awaits when Cameron takes over in the spring.

give me a break Henry

Thrope>>> Colly

having said that i would love to have colly ahead of Misbah/Faisal Iqbal at # 6

Colly is underrated by all and sundry. Including most of us here on flaming bails. I was calling for him to miss the South African tour......

Not sure about that. Colly is one of my cricketing heroes.

Ditto.
Can remember taking all the flak from all and sundry on C4 when I ed the first time he was selected.

He was never a captain, mind ... more like a solid deckhand willing to slug it out with anyone at anytime.

Let's not overlook the fact he seemed to be doing 'just enough' to stay in the team the last few years.

It is rather ironic that Cook,Bell & Colly are our leading scorers in this series