Moores backing Collingwood

Peter Moores is backing Paul Collingwood's captaincy credentials © Getty Images

Peter Moores is expecting Paul Collingwood to emerge stronger from a tough test of his captaincy credentials at the ICC World Twenty20.

The England coach has watched Collingwood struggle to come to terms with the twin demands of skippering and playing in such an intense competition as his side bowed out with four successive defeats.

But as England prepare to move on to Sri Lanka for the start of a tough five-match one-day series, Moores has no doubts that Collingwood can overcome recent events.

“He’s a tough character and he’s a worker, he’s a grafter and gets stuck in,” said Moores.

“One of his great strengths is that he takes the good and the bad on the chin and doesn’t change much either way.

“It has been a tough tournament because we haven’t performed and you have to be able to accept that, learn your lessons and move on and try to improve.”

Paul Collingwood has his captaincy tested at the World Twenty20 © Getty Images

“The Twenty20 game is very quick and you have to make decisions and some work and some don’t.

“We’ve seen in all games during the tournament the captain has to make some brave calls at times and Colly has done that.

"He is learning masses as captain because we have got this patch of one-day cricket.”

England will now focus on the next challenge of their one-day itinerary when they take on Sri Lanka, which will test their revival following the recent triumph over India.

“We had a really good series against India which was a really good achievement because India were above us in the rankings,” added Moores.

“We came to South Africa and had two good opportunities to win games against really good sides in New Zealand and South Africa and didn’t take them.

"We have to take that on the chin but we set up chances to win the games.

“All the way through we’re learning about how to play our best one-day cricket and it’s part of a journey to get to where we want to be, which is ultimately the 2011 World Cup.

“The key is we take the lessons, good and bad, and we move forward quickly because Sri Lanka is going to be a really tough series, we know that and that’s going to be another test for us.”