It seems incredible to say it, given the ineptitude of England's history in limited-overs cricket, but this was no fluke, far from it. At the moment of victory, there was only one man to whom the team gravitated, for Collingwood's grounded professionalism has transformed him into the most durable cricketer of his generation, and no one could be more deserving of all the accolades that will flood his way in the coming weeks. In his own unobtrusive manner, he's become England's heartbeat in all forms of the game, the unlikeliest heir imaginable to the last great English "talisman".
Remember Andrew Flintoff? Incredibly, no one this side of the St Lucia marina has given him a second thought in the past fortnight. Not only have England scaled unprecedented heights in his absence, they've done so with an ethos that makes you question whether he would ever have made the cut in the first place. "Who needs Fred when you've got Tim Bresnan?" is the message being projected by the Flower and Collingwood regime. It sounds absurd, but then, two weeks ago, so too was the prospect of England becoming world champions.
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