england T20 world cup captain

England T20 captain Paul Collingwood told BBC Radio 5 that his team went to the Caribbean to win the World Cup and achieved just that, adding “It’s a massive achievement. We’ve had a monkey on our backs having not won an ICC trophy and put that right.”

Collingwood, who’s England team crushed Australia by seven wickets to land the T20 World Cup said that the win was ‘up there with last years Ashes win’.

“Of course it’s different to Ashes. But in the last five years we’ve done well against them, it’s a different form of game but beating them is always sweet.”

Consistency was the key to England winning the trophy for the first time and Collingwood praised his players for building the momentum that took them all the way to the final.

“It’s a different form of the game to the Ashes – it only takes three hours and the tournament only went for a couple of weeks – but there’s still all that preparation work you’ve got to do. When you do something for the first time – winning the World Cup for us as the England cricket team – it’s definitely something very special. You’re playing against world-class outfits, there’s always challenges that come along at different stages throughout the tournament. The way that the guys have overcome all them and come out on top, a lot of credit goes to the boys. The euphoria of winning it is very, very similar to the Ashes.”

There was also good news for some of England’s young guns from team director Andy Flower, who suggested that the names of Eoin Morgan and Craig Kieswetter would be on the agenda when the selectors meet ahead of next week’s  first Test against Bangladesh.

He said: “We have a selection meeting later this week. They look like very fine players and handled the pressure of the World Cup very well. They have great skills for Twenty20 cricket and they have a lot of time on their side as they are very young.”

T20 World Cup 2010

England will be praying for a rain free game against Ireland tonight following the disappointment of losing out to the West Indies on the Duckworth-Lewis calculation after rain disturbed Monday’s match.

England had appeared to do everything right after being being asked to bat first by West Indies captain Chris Gayle. The England batsmen set an impressive 191 – 5, with an excellent stand of 95 from Eoin Morgan (55) and Luke Wright (45 not out).

In return the West Indies managed a quickfire 30 runs before rain stopped play, and on resumption of the game they were set a meagre target of 60 from 6 overs, managing that with a ball to spare.

West Indies were awarded the game on the Duckworth- Lewis rule, something that captain Chris Gayle had gambled on when winning the toss and putting England into bat.

“We knew that the weather was going to play a part -so the first five overs, obviously, can determine the game,” he said, “So we decided to go out and see what we could get out of the first five overs. The target was actually 43, I think, at one stage – and the updated calculation went in our favour. After the rain, we knew we were most likely to win the game from there on.”

The win means West Indies are through to the Super Eight stage, having seen off the challenge of Ireland on the opening day of the tournament and leaves England also needing a win against Ireland tonight to ensure they progress.

The result has left a bitter taste in the mouth for Paul Collingwood and the England team and the captain has called for a change in the D-L Formula in 20 over cricket, saying;

“We played a near perfect game, and lost. The only thing we are frustrated about is the Duckworth-Lewis equation. There’s a major problem with this Duckworth-Lewis in this form of the game.
I’ve got no problems with it in the 50-over form. But I know it’s made us very frustrated here. It certainly has to be revised for this form of the game. I’m no mathematician; I really don’t know what the equation should be. But you’re certainly backs against the wall when it works out like that.”

Collingwood added that they are praying for a 20 over game with no rain on Tuesday night, believing that if they get that they are capable of joining the West Indies in the Super Eights.

T20 World Cup 2010

The much anticipated T20 World Cup starts today in Guyana with Sri Lanka opening the tournament with their game against New Zealand. Ireland will face the West Indies in the second match of the opening day.

The ICC President David Morgan has promised a festival atmosphere in the Caribbean, expecting a celebration of all that is good about West indies cricket.

Morgan has urged the people of the Caribbean to bring their enthusiasm and passion for cricket to the matches and make it a memorable event for everyone involved.

“Bring your musical instruments, your songs and cheers, your flags, banners and colourful costumes. And, above all, bring that party spirit for which cricket matches in the West Indies are famous.”

Australia start as narrow favourites to win the tournament, but England’s T20 underachievers are getting former captain Michael Vaughan excited.

Having secured warm up wins against Bangladesh and South Africa, confidence in the England camp is bound to be high. Despite the top order pairing of Michael Lumb and Craig Kieswetter yet to prove themselves, Vaughan is hopeful for Paul Collingwood’s team and says;

“This is the first time I have got excited about the England squad coming into the T20 World Cup. For the first time we have guys in the batting with power from one to seven. Maybe we’re a little bit inexperienced in the bowling department, but I think it’s the batting which has let us down in the past. We have had guys who have played in the Indian Premier League – which is a big plus to a team going into a tournament like this. I would be disappointed if we don’t put up some kind of fight.”

Meanwhile Ireland will be action on day one of the tournament having lost their warm ups against New Zealand and Afghanistan. They face the West Indies today in their opening game and coach Phil Simmons is confident that Ireland will come good, suggesting that his team still have the desire to perform in the competition.

The tournament is split into four groups of three with the top two teams in each group qualifying for the Super Eights.

The semi-finals take place in St Lucia on 13 and 14 May and the final in Barbados on 16 May.

england cap record holder

Paul Collingwood was instrumental in England’s win over South Africa on Sunday in the second of five One Day Internationals. Leading with the bat to earn an unbeaten 105, taking a superb catch off AB de Villiers and taking two wickets for 24 of six overs.

A superb all round performance from Collingwood on his record beating 171st England appearance in which he scored his fifth ODI century and helping England to a 1-0 advantage in the series following the the first game wash out.

Having eclipsed the record of 170 England appearances held by Alec Stewart, 33 year old Collingwood has emerged as the country’s most potent threat in one day cricket, even though his form at Test level remains indifferent.

Collingwood has undoubtedly worked hard on his game since making his first international appearance in 2001, not gifted with the natural ability of the likes of crowd pleasers Andrew Flintoff or Ian Botham, he has worked on his weaknesses throughout the years and developed his one day game not just with the bat but as a genuine all rounder.

His bowling has improved beyond compare, starting as a medium pace bowler, Collingwood has mastered variations in his bowling style and is able to mix it with some of the best, while his fielding as an England player is second to none.

Collingwood said that he was proud to have broken the record of England caps and added, ” To go out there and put a performance in like that, it makes it a very special day.”

In typical fashion Collingwood chose to deflect the spotlight from his own achievments and pointed to England opener Jonathan Trott’s 87 runs, saying;

“He played a lovely anchor role and put us into a really strong position. When someone comes into international cricket, it’s easy to tell them to keep doing what they do in county cricket, be he’s just focussed on what he does well for Warwickshire. Today was a prime example of that.”

Meanwhile with over 4,000 runs, 99 wickets and 98 catches in his England career, Collingwood is on the threshold of  becoming the first Englishman, and only the ninth overall, to reach the unique ‘treble’ of 1,ooo runs, 100 wickets and 100 catches.

Indeed the memories of the 6-1 drubbing by Australia seem to have been put firmly behind England as Strauss and Denly set the foundations but it was man of the match, Owais Shah(98)  who shone brilliantly particularly in the partnership with Paul Collingwood(82) and Eoin Morgan(67) who set up the victory as England hit twelve sixes in scoring 323 for 8.

South Africa’s larger than life captain Graeme Smith then put on a superb display of batting himself to keep his team’s chances alive, he finally fell to Stuart Broad for 141, with South Africa on 274 for 9.

After the fifty overs South Africa trailed by 22 runs with 301 for 9.

An angry Smith then launched into Strauss for refusing to allow him to bring on a runner with just six overs remaining – his request quite rightly ignored by Strauss and umpires Steve Davis and Tony Hill.

“He asked me for a runner because he was cramping, the umpires were not particularly keen to give him one, and I felt at the end of a long game when you have had a long innings you are going to be tired,” said Strauss.

“That is one of the things that happens and cramping to a certain extent is a preparation thing and to a certain extent a conditioning thing. I didn’t feel he merited having a runner at that stage. My personal view is you shouldn’t get a runner for cramps full stop.”

Bitter in defeat Smith made the following noise;

“From my perspective it seemed a little bit inconsistent, players have got runners for cramp in the past and there needs to be a level of consistency there. The thing I have learned from this game is that the world is round and it is going to come back somewhere in his captaincy.It will be interesting to see how he handles it if it happens again. It was a crucial part of the game, I had been on the field for 95 overs and had cramped up.”

England’s final group game is against New Zealand on Tuesday.

James Anderson, meanwhile is rested for two matches and will join up with the squad again for the second of back-to-back day-nighters at Trent Bridge.

Both players have been ever present in the England squad and neither have missed a game for their country since February. Despite England trailing 3-0 to Australia in the series and the importance of the upcoming game at Lord’s, the selectors have decided to rest the players because of the heavy schedule of the International game.

Strauss ended 161 not out at close of play, his 18th test century for England came just before tea, with England going into the break at 255 for 2. When Pietersen went shortly after tea for just 32 the alarm bells started ringing.

Collingwood soon followed for a paltry 16, Prior For 8 and then our hero Andrew Flintoff for 4! In that final session before close the Australian bowlers took four wickets for 109 runs and the day ended with England hanging on at 364 for 6.

Andrew Strauss gave his view of the game to the BBC:

“There’s more in this wicket than at Cardiff, but it was pretty good to bat on. From 196-1 we’d like to be in a better place than we are now. As captain you always want to lead from the front, so it was nice to get a big score today – hopefully I can carry on tomorrow. It’s just a little frustrating we couldn’t get another big partnership today.”

With Andrew Strauss out of the squad completely, England need to name the man to lead their team quite soon and Paul Collingwood is now likely to be the front runner.

Speaking about the possibility of taking the position, Paul Collingwood said that it would be an ‘exciting challenge’ and one that he is definitely ‘interested’ in doing.

The Durham man went on to say that he was ‘still waiting to hear’ whether he would be offered the captaincy, with a decision expected to be made before Friday when the final squad is announced.

At this moment in time though, Paul Collingwood is in South Africa as part of the Delhi Daredevils squad in the Indian Premier League. However, he has yet to play a game for them after being overlooked in the first three fixtures.

Paul Collingwood said that ‘only an injury’ to either AB de Villiers, Tillakeratne Dilshan, Daniel Vettori or Dirk Nannes would present him with an opportunity to play because all four of the overseas players at the moment are completely ‘on the money’ with their performances.

The England man has had the chance to watch how a successful Twenty20 team operates though as the Daredevils have won all of their games so far. Perhaps this will stand Paul Collingwood in good stead if he is to lead his country this summer.