Collingwood accepts decision

16 September 2007

Paul Collingwood had no qualms with Kevin Pietersen's run-out © Getty Images

Paul Collingwood insisted that England could not blame their defeat to South Africa on the contentious dismissal of Kevin Pietersen at Newlands.

England slipped to a 19-run defeat in their first outing in the second stage of the ICC World Twenty20 after being restricted to 135 for seven chasing the hosts’ competitive score of 154 for eight.

But the turning point of the match was when Pietersen was run out for 15 chasing a quick single after he collided with Shaun Pollock at the non-striker’s end to prevent him beating Makhaya Ntini’s throw.

But captain Collingwood stressed that the dismissal should not have prevented England claiming victory and giving them a major boost in their bid to reach the semi-finals.

“He was looking at the fielder and the ball, and Pollock, whether he meant it or not, got in his way,” Collingwood said.

“He would have got in very easily and that was a bit of bad luck we had tonight, but even with that we still should have knocked those runs off.”

Collingwood admitted he hopes Pietersen will learn from the incident.

“He should have looked where he was running and not collide with the bowler," he said.

“It was just unfortunate. When you’re running and looking at the fielder, sometimes you have to gauge whether you’re going to make your ground or whether you’re going to have to dive.”

Albie Morkel hit 43 off 20 balls and took 2-12 to help his side claim victory © Getty Images

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Collingwood’s view of events echoed the sentiments of South Africa captain Graeme Smith, who revealed he would have called Pietersen back had he believed Pollock had obstructed him deliberately.

“If I’d have felt he did it on purpose then I would have called KP back, but Shaun was trying to get back to the stumps to get behind them,” said Smith.

“There’s a big pitch out there and Kevin ran straight at him in the middle of the wicket. It was a very fair dismissal and I had no problem with it at the time.”

Collingwood was more upset by the number of missed chances in the field which allowed South Africa to recover from reaching 94 for five with five overs remaining to reach their competitive total with man of the match Albie Morkel hammering 43 off 20 balls.

“I thought the way we bowled tonight was fantastic - it really set the standards with our bowling tonight but unfortunately our fielding again wasn’t up to scratch,” added Collingwood, who missed Morkel on 14.

“I can hold my hands out on that one and we could have probably bowled South Africa out for maybe 130.

"If they’d have got a score like that it would have put them out of the game.

"Saying that I think we’d have still taken 154 at the start of the day and we were disappointed we didn’t knock them off.”