Paul Collingwood believes England's NatWest Series triumph is a hint of better things to come in one-day cricket.
England captain looks to the future after NatWest Series win
Paul Collingwood believes England's NatWest Series triumph is a hint of better things to come in limited-overs cricket.
Kevin Pietersen hit 71 not out as England chased down a target of 188 to win the seventh and decisive match against India at Lord's on Saturday.
Collingwood, who was made one-day captain at the start of the summer following England's dismal performance at the World Cup, feels his side will gain confidence from beating India's experienced line-up.
"India have played some fantastic cricket this summer - they have been pretty aggressive," he said.
"They came into this series as favourites - and I think from a young set of boys, to go out and win gives us all a lot of confidence for what we could do in the future."
Flintoff passed fit
The victory was set-up by a superb effort from England's seam attack with Andrew Flintoff and Dimitri Mascarenhas taking three wickets each.
Flintoff, who removed both Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, had a pain-killing injection in his left ankle to play at Lord's after missing the fifth and sixth games.
"I think he was a little bit sore. But he obviously got through his 10 overs," said Collingwood.
"Freddie is always willing - but obviously from a captain's point of view, you don't want to make anything worse.
"All the time, you're asking if he's okay. Today he said he was fine."
Twenty20 replacements
Flintoff, who underwent a third operation on his left ankle earlier in the summer, has been passed fit to play at the upcoming World Twenty20 in South Africa.
England fly out for the event on Monday and had already been forced by injury to make two changes to their original 15-man squad.
James Anderson and Mascarenhas were called-up to replace Ravinder Bopara (broken thumb) and Ryan Sidebottom (side strain).
