8216;Collingwood146;s reputation sullied forever8217;

8220;Oh, the folly of Capt Colly!8221; was the Daily Mail8216;s headline. The paper said the incident was the worst involving an England captain since Mike Gatting argued with Pakistani umpire Shakoor Rana 21 years ago.

8220;Paul Collingwood8217;s reputation may be sullied forever,8221; it added.

The Guardian compared the incident to the furore involving former captain Michael Atherton over alleged ball-tampering 14 years ago.

Atherton himself wrote in The Times that England lost 8216;a good deal of self-respect8217; over the incident but praised Collingwood8217;s 8216;outstanding8217; honesty and contrition in apologising.

8220;Cricket became a contact sport here yesterday as England8217;s win-at-all-costs attitude saw them beaten off the last ball by New Zealand in a game soured by the run-out of Grant Elliott at a crucial stage,8221; wrote former England bowler Derek Pringle in the Daily Telegraph.

But Pringle concluded that 8216;justice was eventually served8217; with New Zealand8217;s victory, which puts them 2-1 up in the series with one game left to play.

Collingwood was, though, defended by ex England captain Nasser Hussain.

8220;All his life he has trained to be a fighter, a scrapper, a winner and suddenly he had to make a snap decision 8211; spirit of the game or victory?

8220;He did what he has always trained to do,8221; Hussain wrote in The Mail, while noting his decision was wrong and praising Collingwood8217;s subsequent apology.