A couple of weeks back we wrote a post naming our World Cup footballer / cricket doppelgangers.
It seems that we missed one notable pairing however, which is pretty heinous considering that the footballer in question plays for our team (Liverpool) and the cricketer with which he shares so many traits is our favourite player in the England team.
Dirk Kuyt (as he is for Liverpool) has been Holland's Duracell bunny in this World Cup. He covers more yards per game than any of his colleagues, with most of his work being the dirty (not literally) stuff that his more celebrated colleagues like Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder or Robin van Persie wouldn't dream of doing. Some supporters and pundits sometime question his place in the side (as they do for Liverpool), but the real fans that go every week, his team mates and managers would not consider Kuyt's name not being on the team sheet.
Which leads us to Paul Collingwood. Like Kuyt he is not technically the best in his respective side (Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell to name two have twice as much talent as the Durham battler). Has anyone ever remarked about how stylish a Paul Collingwood innings is? But like Kuyt, Colly does the things that other players don't want to. Like saving test matches for example as his three peaks of Cardiff, Centurion and Cape Town prove.
Unheralded, unspectacular and certainly not stylish. But both Collingwood and Kuyt are crucial to their teams. Don't bet (although we actually have money riding on Spain) on Kuyt joining Collingwood as a World Champion tonight.
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