Flight frustrations for England

Paul Collingwood and England were held up at their hotel

England’s preparations for the start of the one-day series against New Zealand have been disrupted after an airport security alert delayed their journey from Christchurch.

The tourists were due to fly mid-morning after wrapping up a 50-run victory in the second Twenty20 international and were scheduled to practice at the Westpac Stadium, the venue for Saturday’s opening one-day international, on Friday afternoon.

But those plans were scrapped after a security alert forced the temporary closure of Christchurch airport during the early morning, causing a major backlog of flights.

They were delayed for two-and-a-half hours - during which time the team stayed at their Christchurch hotel - eventually arriving mid-afternoon after cancelling their scheduled practice session.

Instead, the players took a look around the ground to get their bearings before heading to their Wellington hotel to have a team meeting about Saturday’s day-night opener.

Having practised hard during their first week in Christchurch and played two 50-over warm-up matches against Canterbury last weekend, Friday’s disruption will not have upset England’s schedule greatly.

It may even have helped give captain Paul Collingwood and coach Peter Moores more time to consider their options following two impressive displays by the Twenty20 line-up.

Collingwood remains loyal to the side which triumphed beyond expectations in Sri Lanka last October, but he admits the performance of the Twenty20 side has given them food for thought.

The New Zealand tour has started well for Collingwood

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“There’s going to be some tough decisions, there’s no question about that - the boys who have come in for the Twenty20 format have done really well,” said Collingwood.

“But you have to also remember the performances that we put in in Sri Lanka. I know we have different conditions here in New Zealand, but we’re a well-oiled one-day side at the moment.”

Only two players from the current squad - Essex pair Alastair Cook and Ravi Bopara - featured in Sri Lanka but failed to make the starting line-up for the two Twenty20 matches.

Cook may return having scored a half-century and an unbeaten hundred in the two warm-up matches.

But Bopara’s return to the starting line-up is less certain because he is almost certainly competing against Hampshire all-rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas, who has been outstanding in both Twenty20 outings.

Mascarenhas won the man-of-the-match award in the 32-run victory at Auckland on Tuesday and played another key role in Thursday night’s triumph by claiming 2-25 in his four overs and scoring 11 off only four balls at the climax of the England innings.