Pleasing start for Colly

England skipper looking for better performance against Australia.

By Paul Higham   Last updated: 14th September 2007  

Pleasing start for Colly

Collingwood: Praised Pietersen

Related links

Teams

Players

Also see

Captain Paul Collingwood was satisfied rather than thrilled with his England side's opening World Twenty20 victory over Zimbabwe.

England won by 50 runs against the side that had shocked Australia less than 24 hours before, with Kevin Pietersen's thumping 79 off 37 balls doing the damage.

Collingwood says the performance was far from perfect but was pleased to have at least avoided a shock.

"It was a good win, I thought Zimbabwe played well today. It was not a perfect performance but we came out and got the job done and got a good victory," he told Sky Sports.

"Schofield and Mascarenhas turned the game in the middle of the innings after they had got off to a great start."

Australia now await on Friday in the final game which cold see qualification from the group going down to net run rate.

Bounce back

"Hopefully we will come out tomorrow and put in a good performance. I'm sure they will want to bounce back from yesterday," added Collingwood.

Man of the match Pietersen has a fondness for batting with Collingwood, and he was looking forward to the prospect of knocking Australia out of the tournament with a win on Friday.

"I'm pretty pleased," said Pietersen. "The boys played well today.

"Paul and I bat well together. We have got some great stats against most teams and it is partnership we enjoy.

"There is a big game tomorrow and it would be nice to send Australia home."

Sky Bet Odds:

Click Here for Your Free Bet