In sad, but not unexpected, news today, Paul Collingwood has announced his retirement from Test cricket as of the conclusion of the SCG Test.

I have always been a huge Collingwood fan, not least because to me he epitomises the sort of player I would like to be, someone who who is not as naturally talented as others, but wrings every last drop from the abilities he does have. To me, that is far more admirable than the lazy but brilliant who just phone it in and often don’t fulfill their potential because when everything comes easy there is no incentive to work hard and go that extra mile.

I am sure many articles will be written in the next few days, and I will try and link to a few here, but as an England supporter I just wanted to express my appreciation of such a great servant of English cricket. From his dogged rearguards that saved series (the last Ashes, South Africa) to his exceptional fielding (perhaps only Jonty Rhodes has been better in the last 20 years) he really has been one of the big contributors to the successh tat England is now experiencing. At least we will still get to see him in ODIs and T20s.

EDITED TO ADD: A great piece here from Andrew Miller that says it far better than I could. What more could any player ask than to be remembered like that?