Vettori hails captain Collingwood

Revitalised Paul Collingwood has looked in good touch in the NatWest series

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori has heaped praise on his England one-day counterpart Paul Collingwood after he put his poor Test form behind him in the current NatWest Series between the two countries.

Collingwood, suffering with a shoulder problem, looked out of touch despite England’s 2-0 win in the Test series under Michael Vaughan’s captaincy.

However the Durham all-rounder has regained his confidence with bat and ball leading the side in the Twenty20 international and the opening two ODI games and has impressed Vettori.

He said: “Vaughan and Collingwood are different captains. They do things in their own style. Collingwood is one of those guys who leads from the front with bat and ball and in the field and always seems involved in the game.

“Vaughan comes across as a more cerebRal type of captain and can only dictate with the bat and the way he captains the side.

“I’m always drawn to guys who lead by their performance and Collingwood does that pretty well the majority of the time.

“He bowled in the power-play in the last game at Edgbaston so he backs his own ability and, when you have that in a captain, it just reverberates throughout a side.”