Collingwood draws on positives

Paul Collingwood will switch his attention to one-day international cricket having seen enough signs to suggest England’s new look one-day side is already developing into a promising team.

Friday night’s thrilling five wickets victory over West Indies in the second NatWest Twenty20 international at the Brit Oval was a major improvement on the previous night’s defeat with Owais Shah claiming the man-of-the-match award for an unbeaten 55 from 35 balls.

Bowling more intelligently and fielding with more intent to restrict West Indies to 169 for seven, England won with three balls to spare to give them the perfect lift prior to the start of the three-match NatWest Series at Lord’s on Sunday.

But despite captaining the side for just two matches, Durham all-rounder Collingwood remains optimistic England have the raw material to keep developing into a more competitive side.

“These are the best one-day cricketers in England at the moment and they should be good enough to adapt their games to Twenty20 form,” explained Collingwood.

“We proved last night we can do that pretty quickly, but it is all about learning. You have to go through your ups and downs before you can learn and we will not get carried away about last night’s win.”

Having claimed his first victory as England’s new one-day captain, Collingwood admitted: “It’s a great feeling, but we’ve come a long way in the last couple of days and learnt a lot.

Wicket-keeper Matt Prior, who suffered a bang on the right hand during Friday’s victory, is expected to recover in time for Sunday’s match but Ian Bell will have to pass a fitness test having missed the two Twenty20 internationals with a groin problem.

West Indies also have injury problems with Shivnarine Chanderpaul (right knee) and Devon Smith (thigh) ruled out of Friday night’s defeat although the tourists remain hopeful they will be fit for Lord’s.

Their return will lift spirits following the disappointment of Friday night’s match, which they seemed favourites to win when England slumped to 104 for five in the 14th over.