Paul David Collingwood MBE (born 26 May 1976) is an English cricket coach and former player, who played in all three formats of the game internationally for England.

Described as a "natural athlete", he was regarded as one of the finest fielders of his time, usually fielding at backward point or at third or fourth slip in Tests; he also deputised as wicket-keeper for England.

[15] He finished on a high, becoming a three-times Ashes winner as England won a series in Australia for the first time in 24 years, with three innings victories contributing to a 3–1 win.

[1][19] Introduced to cricket "on the playing fields of Blackfyne Comprehensive School", Paul was able to "force his way into Shotley Bridge's Under–13s team at the age of just nine".

[22] Collingwood still makes regular visits to his old cricket club: "...he is a brilliant role model for the kids and his success is an inspiration to follow...".

By the time he forced his way into the Under-19 team he was batting at the top of the order and the following year he was offered a professional contract.Collingwood made his first–class debut against Northamptonshire in 1996, at Durham's Riverside Ground.

[27][28] Recognising his need to improve his all-round game Collingwood took himself off to Australia for their 2000–01 season where he played for the long-established Richmond Cricket Club in the tough Melbourne Premier League.

[33] In that same year, two days after achieving his fifth Test century at Riverside in an England victory, he joined Liam Plunkett in helping the county enter its first Friends Provident Trophy final, which they would also go on to win.

[47] While this performance cemented his position in the England one–day setup, he dislocated his right shoulder while fielding in a pre–season county friendly against Lancashire and was forced to miss most of the 2003 season.

[53] Collingwood was also England's second highest run-scorer in the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy, scoring 141 runs at an average of 70.5,[54] which included an unbeaten 80 in the opening game against Zimbabwe.

[68] In the 2006 New Year's Honours List, Collingwood was awarded the MBE,[69] together with other members of the England team, for his role in the successful Ashes victory.

[74] In the ODI series, he and Durham teammates Liam Plunkett and Steve Harmison accounted for the majority of the wickets taken by England, through a combination of their bowling and fielding.

[75] Following his performance in Pakistan, Collingwood was called into the England team for the First Test against India in March 2006 after injury and illness respectively to Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick.

[90][91] Following a successful summer, Collingwood was selected later in 2006 for both the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy squad and Ashes touring party.

[92][93] However, after two lacklustre defeats to India and Australia,[94][95] critics such as Geoffrey Boycott and some fans began to question the coaching staff's placement of him in the batting order.

[98] However, on the fourth day, England seemed to be batting towards a draw, when Collingwood, who had worked his way to a hard–earned 96 was stumped "...skipping miles down the pitch and trying to smack Warne over his head to reach a hundred".

[109] Collingwood's performance during this Test was mediocre, scoring 27 and 17 with the bat and not being called upon to bowl a single ball, as Australia won comfortably by ten wickets.

[111] The Commonwealth Bank One-Day International Series began on a low note for Collingwood, with a loss in the opening game against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

[112] Despite the defeat being followed by a narrow win over New Zealand in Hobart,[113] the team and Collingwood went into a rapid decline, losing a string of four matches.

[120] In the second of the finals, he was Man of the Match for the third consecutive game, top–scoring for England with 70 and taking two wickets, as well another difficult catch off the bowling of Sajid Mahmood to once again dismiss Matthew Hayden.

Unimpressive victories over Ireland[126] followed by a nervy 37-run seventh wicket stand with Paul Nixon to victory over Bangladesh[127] along with a close 2-run loss to Sri Lanka[128] and heavy losses to Australia[129] and South Africa[130] meant elimination from the knockout stages, as Collingwood was only able to manage lower scores with limited successes with the white ball.

[132] He then added his second century of the series at Durham's home ground at Chester-le-Street during the fourth Test, hitting 128 from 188 balls as part of a 169-run seventh-wicket stand with Prior before being bowled by Corey Collymore.

While this action drew criticism from the New Zealand dressing room, there was separate incident in this match (relating to an inadequate England over-rate), for which the ICC banned Collingwood for four limited-overs internationals.

[141] Collingwood's poor form continued into the first Test of South Africa's tour of England in July 2008, as he scored only seven runs in his first innings at Lord's,[142] although replays suggested an umpiring error, the ball hitting not his bat but only his pad.

Half an hour after Michael Vaughan resigned from the Test captaincy, Collingwood relinquished charge of the ODI squad because it was affecting his ability to enjoy the game.

"[145][146] Collingwood deputised as England wicket-keeper for an injured Matt Prior in the second home Test against the West Indies in May 2009; he enjoyed the experience and was generally successful, including effecting a catch from an edge by Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

Collingwood's difficulties with the bat seemed to affect his usually high-class catching, and he dropped three chances of varying degrees of difficulty on the final day of the series at the Oval, though he did take a sharp catch to dismiss Mitchell Johnson for a duck off Steve Harmison as part of England's surge to a 197-run victory in the match, and a 2–1 victory in the series.

Against South Africa in November 2009, Collingwood surpassed Alec Stewart's record of 170 ODIs to become England's most capped player.

[153][154] It was Collingwood's captaincy that was most praised, as he led England to their first-ever ICC trophy, hitting the winning runs in their seven-wicket victory over Australia in the final.

On 7 February 2022, it was announced that Collingwood would serve as interim head coach of the men's England cricket team for the forthcoming West Indies Test series.