[2] His father was subsequently groundsman at the Bat and Ball Ground, Gravesend and later ran a sports outfitters in the town, so it was natural that son should follow father into cricket.
[4] Described in his Wisden obituary as "a splendid right-arm fast bowler and a useful left-handed batsman",[2] Collins appeared in 218 first-class matches, taking 379 wickets and scoring 6,280 runs.
[5] He also occasionally kept wicket, claiming a stumping off the bowling of Tich Freeman in a 1922 fixture against Yorkshire.
[8] Outside cricket Collins was a bellringer at Milton-next-Gravesend and an article in The Ringing World published on 2 May 1913 described him as "hold[ing] the distinction of being, perhaps, the only first-class cricketer who is a bellringer in this country", a photograph was included with the article.
A note on a later page of the same issue stated that former Australian captain, Monty Noble, was also a ringer, and had visited a number of towers in England during his tours.