What he lacks in batting aesthetics he more than makes up for in character, specialising over recent years in gritty match winning or saving rearguards. Given the Cardiff result, I rate today's innings as his most important for his country. Here's his top five:
1. 74 v Australia - 8/7/09 - England were never in danger of winning this game, so the important number here was 344 - the number of minutes he spent at the crease in this unlikely match-saving effort. He faced 201 dot balls, only made 44 scoring shots and finished with a strike-rate of 30.20, but neither he nor England cared as they head to Lord's all square.
2. 135 v South Africa - 30/7/08 - Test career-saving innings. Having been in dismal form all summer, he made a tortuous 4 from 45 balls in the first innings, and approached the crease for the second knowing that this was his last chance. 296 minutes and 135 runs later he left the field, Test career intact.
3. 10 v Australia - 8/9/05 - KP made the headlines at the other end, but Colly lasted 74 priceless minutes at the crease at a time when another breakthrough may just have seen England's Ashes hopes evaporate on the last day of this epic series.
4. 206 v Australia - 1/12/06 - Amid the nightmares the Adelaide Test inevitably conjures up, it is easy to forget that an Englishman scored a double hundred. Collingwood toiled away for an epic 515 minutes, many of them in conjunction with KP, and faced 392 balls amid a barrage of sledging from Shane Warne. Mental toughness personified. If only the team could have followed suit.
5. 108 v India - 11/12/08 - Few batsmen found this Chennai pitch easy, or indeed possible, to bat on, but Collinwood did. Only three England players made it out of double figures (Strauss also made 108) in England's second innings 311, but even their heroics were unable to prevent England going down by six wickets.
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