sport news Paul Collingwood heaps praise on 'magnificent' Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum trends now

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England assistant coach Paul Collingwood heaped praise on Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum after another enterprising day of Test cricket against Pakistan, insisting they were ‘two guys willing to risk everything to make sure this game survives’.

As baffled local journalists quizzed him about the wisdom of Stokes’s declaration, which left Pakistan to make 343 in four sessions on a Rawalpindi pitch that has refused to break up, Collingwood said England had the wider picture to consider at a time when the Test format is fighting for its life.

‘It’s magnificent in terms of the bigger picture,’ he said. ‘When Baz and Ben took over, the number one priority was to make Test cricket entertaining, like T20 has been.