Collingwood demands courage

Paul Collingwood gets a feel for the World Twenty20 trophy. He claims England must believe they can lift it in three weeks' time

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Paul Collingwood urged England to be brave as they attempt to end their long wait for success on the international stage by lifting the World Twenty20 trophy on home soil.

The England captain officially opened their campaign for glory over the next three weeks, when they will compete with 11 other countries, at Lord's today hopeful they can return to the same ground to compete in the final on June 21.

He will do so with a squad denied the services of influential all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, who is yet to recover from a knee operation a month ago, while Kevin Pietersen is making gradual progress from a recent Achilles strain.

Pietersen did not participate in the fitness drills before practice at Loughborough today, but batted and fielded and Collingwood expects him to “play a major part in all the games”.

Whatever the personnel available to Collingwood for England's opening match against Holland at Lord's next Friday, he expects them to seize the chance to make history and attempt to win their first global tournament.

"I think we've got to be brave," said the all-rounder, who captained England in the inaugural World Twenty20 in South Africa two years ago.

"If you go out to win a tournament like this you have to make some brave decisions as individuals when you're out in the middle and you've got to have the belief.

Collingwood is hoping home advantage helps England rather than creates added pressure as they chase glory

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"It's crucial you can go out there and believe as a team we can win the competition and also believe in your own ability when you're out in the middle.

"I want the team to go out there and be brave and have belief. I just see it as an opportunity. Twenty20 is not an exact science and you have to think on your feet when you're out in the middle.

“Sometimes it only takes one person to win the game and we have a lot of match-winners in our side.”

Having home advantage should certainly help England improve on their performance during the last World Twenty20, when their only victory was against Zimbabwe, but playing host also adds expectation.

India, Sri Lanka, Australia and South Africa are strongly favoured as contenders but, with players like Ravi Bopara, Stuart Broad and James Anderson progressing over the last year, Collingwood believes England have the firepower to do well.

"People from the outside will say there's added pressure (playing at home), but we're not really looking at it in that way," he said.

"We've got an advantage playing in our home conditions and we know what England's all about.

"We know the wickets very well and the venues we're playing at and hopefully that will be to our advantage. We're all looking forward to it and excited about playing in front of our own crowds.

"We have players who are in crucial positions who have gained a lot of international experience since 2007 and I think they're better players now.

The continuing emergence of the likes of Ravi Bopara is a source of much encouragement for Collingwood

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"If you look at Ravi Bopara at the top of the order, he's going to be crucial for us and Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson have developed as bowlers.”

England have four players in their squad - wicketkeeper James Foster, Essex all-rounder Graham Napier, Yorkshire leg-spinner Adil Rashid and Middlesex's Eoin Morgan - who are yet to play a Twenty20 international.

It is a similar scenario to the previous World Twenty20 when England had to assimilate several 20-over specialists into their squad and struggled as a result, but Collingwood is confident this time there will be no disruption to the dressing room after Test and one-day series wins over West Indies.

"There are obviously concerns when you meet up as a team that the new guys will not be brought into the side as well as they could be," confirmed Collingwood.

"This time around that isn't a concern because I think we have a really strong culture in the side and the guys get on really well. So far the boys enjoy each other’s company and we just want to take that out into the middle.

"We have a three-week period here where we've got an opportunity as an England cricket team to win a competition and no England cricket team has won an ICC tournament before, so there's an opportunity for us as a team to hopefully put that right."

England will train again at Loughborough tomorrow and hope Pietersen can play a fuller part in the session as they build-up for two warm-up matches against Scotland at Trent Bridge on Tuesday and West Indies at Lord's the following day.

"We haven't finalised it 100% but KP will play a major part in all the games, I would have thought," added Collingwood.

"He's raring to go, he's had a few weeks off and he wants to get out in the middle."