Collingwood believes home advantage will help England

CAPTAIN Paul Collingwood believes home advantage will give England an extra dimension when they begin their quest to capture the World Twenty20 title.

The hosts start their campaign against the Netherlands on June 5 following a one-day series win over West Indies.

Star batsman Kevin Pietersen, who missed the impressive 2-0 win, is set to return following an Achilles injury.

“We know what England is all about, we know the wickets well and the venues we’re playing,” said Collingwood.

The Durham all-rounder led England in the inaugural World Twenty20 in South Africa in 2007, winning only once in five matches.

But although all-rounder Andrew Flintoff has been ruled out of the tournament after failing to recover in time from knee cartilage damage sustained while playing in the Indian Premier League, Collingwood believes England have a vastly improved squad capable of winning an international tournament for the first time.

Batsman Ravi Bopara has been the revelation of the season so far, impressing in the IPL as well as becoming only the fifth Englishman to score three successive Test centuries.

Pace bowlers Stuart Broad and James Anderson have bowled with aggression and pace, utilising early-season overhead conditions and extracting movement and bounce.

“We have players who are in crucial positions who have gained a lot of international experience since 2007 and I think they’re better players now,” said Collingwood.

“If you look at Ravi Bopara at the top of the order, he’s going to be crucial for us and Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson have developed as bowlers.

“We have a three-week period here where we’ve got an opportunity as an England cricket team to win a competition and no England cricket team has won an ICC tournament before so there’s an opportunity for us as a team to hopefully put that right.”

England’s 14-man squad includes Twenty20 specialists in Essex wicketkeeper James Foster and all-rounder team-mate Graham Napier, Yorkshire leg-spinner Adil Rashid and Middlesex batsman Eoin Morgan, who made his one-day debut against the West Indies.

The quartet are likely to feature in England’s two warm-up matches on successive days against Scotland at Trent Bridge tomorrow and West Indies at Lord’s on Wednesday, along with Pietersen.

“We haven’t finalised it 100% but KP (Pietersen) will play a major part in all the games, I would have thought,” added Collingwood.

“He’s raring to go, he’s had a few weeks off and he wants to get out in the middle.” (BBC Sport)

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