Collingwood: Proteas fear us

England all-rounder buoyant heading into ODI series

Last updated: 5th November 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Collingwood: Proteas fear us

Collingwood: High on confidence

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Paul Collingwood is hoping England can reassert their one-day dominance over South Africa when the teams reconvene on November 13.

The Proteas have failed to beat England in their previous six one-day internationals - losing five with one no result.

However, Graeme Smith's men will have the chance to avenge that record when the teams contest a five-match series in between two Twenty20's and four Test matches this winter.

After beating the Proteas 4-0 on home soil in the 2008 NatWest series, England went on to eliminate the host nation from the recent ICC Champions Trophy with victory in Centurion.

Collingwood, 33, is currently adjusting to the conditions in South Africa ahead of a testing tour that begins with a warm-up match against the Diamond Eagles in Bloemfontein on Friday.

Speaking ahead of the tour, Collingwood said: "I think we can take a lot of confidence of how we've played against them - the last five or six games, obviously we've won them all," he said.

Underdogs

"Our game plans against them have been pretty good, so I'm sure they're very wary of us because I don't think anybody expected us to beat them in the Champions Trophy."

Despite their recent record against the host nation, Collingwood, who will lead England's Twenty20 side for two matches in Johannesburg and Centurion, believes his side start as underdogs in all forms of the game.

He added: "It's going to be a tough series, I think we've got to have a really bold approach.

"Obviously Straussy and Andy (Flower, England's coach) have got a clean slate from now on and we'll hopefully get more athleticism on the field and hopefully we can have a bit of an upset again."

South Africa skipper Smith has already started the mind games following his side's most recent loss to England - a narrow 22-run reverse which saw England deny his request for a runner with the match in the balance.

But all-rounder Collingwood refused to be drawn in with his focus solely on the job at hand.

Asked whether there was any added tension between the two sides, the Durham player said: "No, not at all. I think there have been a few comments in the press, but we're honestly 100 per cent focused on what we need to do.

"I'm sure Smith will, he has done in the past, come out with a few quotes that might get the opposition a bit niggled.

"But we don't need any more motivation, this is a huge series for us, playing the number one side in the world in their back yard, is going to be a big challenge for us. We're very, very excited to get going and looking forward to playing against them."