Collingwood wary of Kiwi threat

England one-day captain Paul Collingwood arrives in New Zealand © Getty Images

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Paul Collingwood has warned England's young side not to under-estimate New Zealand's much-changed line-up as they begin the build-up to the one-day series starting next week.

England's one-day captain arrived in Christchurch New Zealand with the rest of the squad on Monday morning and was greeted with the welcome news that Shane Bond, New Zealand's 90mph spearhead, would be absent from both the one-day and Test series over the next two months.

Bond and Cricket New Zealand terminated his contract by mutual consent after he signed up for the lucrative Indian Cricket League, an event not sanctioned by the International Cricket Council.

His absence follows the retirement of experienced one-day players Nathan Astle, Stephen Fleming and Craig McMillan from their one-day side in the last year, leaving England facing what appears to be a less daunting proposition.

But Collingwood has studied New Zealand carefully over the last month, watching footage of their comprehensive victory over Bangladesh from home, and believes they still present a formidable challenge.

"They've got good players like Taylor, Jacob Oram and Brendon McCullum, players like that who can take the game away from you," warned Collingwood.

The England squad are greeted at Christchurch

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"I've always thought they are a canny side, a clever side. They play street cricket against you and no matter who comes in I'm sure they'll put a good side out and they'll be difficult to beat."

Bond, currently ranked the second best one-day bowler in the world rankings, originally thought he could combine playing in the ICL and still fulfil his commitments with New Zealand.

His absence will be keenly felt by New Zealand particularly after his last performance against England, when his superbly-disguised changes of pace dismissed Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff in the same over of their World Cup group game in St Lucia to effectively seal their victory.

Collingwood admitted: "We were preparing ourselves to play against him and it's a big loss for New Zealand that he's not here.

"We obviously rate him highly. Any bowler that bowls the ball at 90mph plus is pretty difficult to play against.

"He's been the spearhead of the New Zealand attack and very good at the death as well and he's going to be a big miss now he's not playing."

New Zealand's recent victory over Bangladesh suggests that under the new captaincy of Daniel Vettori they are still an effective one-day side and could present a major obstacle as England attempt to build on successive series triumphs over India and Sri Lanka.

"This will be a massive challenge for us. We know New Zealand, we've played against them quite a lot recently and they're a very, clever side," added Collingwood.

"They beat Australia here last year and they have a lot of world class players in their side who can take the game away from you."