In the end, it went exactly according to the script. Sri Lanka threatened an unlikely twist when their bowlers reduced England to 122 for 6, but their batsmen's twin nemeses – pace and bounce – had the final say. Yet on a Perth pitch that usually favours sexy, hip young things, it was the boy next door who was the hero of this narrative. Paul Collingwood really does not look like an international sportsman. His unpretentious, short-back-and-sides appearance won't sell too many posters or tickets, but he is becoming a very important part of England's World Cup story.

When Collingwood started his international career with four single-figure scores in the NatWest Series of 2001, he was filed alongside Aftab Habib in the inexplicable-selections file. But just as Steve Waugh had seen something he liked, so had Duncan Fletcher, who stuck with his man the following winter. Then, when Collingwood followed a few decent innings with seven single-figure scores in a row in India and New Zealand, he was bracketed alongside Vince Wells in the bits-and-pieces-jokers-who-almost-made-it list.

Yet Collingwood's claims are made of sterner foundations. He is an outstanding fielder, has won a man-of-the-match award with his dobbly medium-pacers, and offers something with the bat that England simply do not have elsewhere.

Collingwood's average is still the wrong side of 30 – not good enough for a batsman who bowls - but part of the reason for that is that he has been shunted around the order, often as low as No. 8. A finisher needs time for his innings to breathe before the slog overs, and when Collingwood bats at No. 5, he averages nearly 70. That's more than 15 runs clear of anyone else in ODI history who has played five or more innings in that position. It's more than Jonty Rhodes (41.20), more than Michael Bevan (40.04), more than Graham Thorpe (35.42) (click here for the Wizard). And it's nearly nine times Collingwood's average when he bats at No. 6 (8.00). What a difference one position can make.

Collingwood has everything a good finisher needs: quick feet, deft placement, a strike-rate in excess of 80 runs per 100 balls, the occasional big shot – witness his six over wide long-on today – and a seriously cool head. The only time he looked even vaguely flustered was in the nineties: not through nerves, but through Andy Caddick commandeering the strike with time running out.

For too long England have had a death-or-glory approach to one-day cricket – the ball either goes for four or stays on the square. Collingwood represents the antithesis of that: a canny, mature operator who deals in singles (today he scored 62% of his runs in ones; the rest of the top six managed just 29%). Like another likeable, baby-faced finisher of a different code – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – Collingwood is always referred to as a youngster, yet he is 27 next May. His time should be now.

If Collingwood is the sort of bloke it's difficult to dislike, the same cannot be said of Caddick, the pressbox's favourite pantomime villain. When a lacklustre first over from him went for 13, it seemed it would be one of those days. But as is so often the case, the fuel of an early wicket propelled Caddick to a much-improved performance.

Rarely has someone with so many wickets been cut such little slack, so this was a timely performance for Caddick. He nearly doubled his one-day internationals wickets tally for the year (he had four in seven matches prior to this match), and his 3 for 30 were his best ODI figures for nearly three years – since England's last one-dayer in South Africa, in 1999-2000.

Caddick bowled superbly then (his combined figures in the triangular tournament were 59-5-172-9), and with Darren Gough out he is still England's best hope of consistent new-ball incisions in the World Cup. The pitches will certainly suit him. All he has to do is get out of the right side of the bed.

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