England send trio to counties

Paul Collingwood is free to play for Durham tomorrow

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England have made Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook and Ravi Bopara available to their counties for Sunday’s NatWest Pro40 matches.

The trio, who are part of the hosts’ squad for the NatWest Series against South Africa, have been given the opportunity to gain some match practice ahead of the second encounter at Trent Bride on Tuesday.

Collingwood can play for Durham Dynamos in their Division One match against Worcestershire Royals at New Road while the Essex Eagles pair could line up for the Division Two game versus Glamorgan Dragons at Colchester.

Bopara played in England’s 20-run victory over South Africa at Headingley Carnegie yesterday although his batting skills were not required.

Cook was not included in England’s XI for the first game of five while Collingwood served the last of his four-match ban for a slow over-rate during his captaincy before Kevin Pietersen took over.