Peter Moores is expecting Paul Collingwood to emerge stronger from the toughest test of his captaincy credentials during the World Twenty20.
Coach backs skipper to come good for England
England coach Peter Moores expects Paul Collingwood to learn some vital lessons in captaincy from the World Twenty20 tournament.
After the success of beating India 4-3 in the recent NatWest series, Collingwood had a testing time in South Africa both on and off the field of play.
England went out of the tournament after suffering four consecutive defeats, while the Durham all-rounder's judgement was called into question after he was fined £1,000 for visiting a lap-dancing bar.
But as England prepare to move on to Sri Lanka for the start of a tough five-match one-day series, Moores has no doubts that Collingwood can overcome recent events.
Character
"He's a tough character and he's a worker, he's a grafter and gets stuck in," said Moores.
"One of his great strengths is that he takes the good and the bad on the chin and doesn't change much either way.
"It has been a tough tournament because we haven't performed and you have to be able to accept that, learn your lessons and move on and try to improve."
Moores insisted Collingwood was not distracted in the final two matches of England's dismal tournament, which immediately followed their decision to fine him for his late-night antics.
"I don't think he was," said Moores.
"The Twenty20 game is very quick and you have to make decisions and some work and some don't.
"We've seen in all games during the tournament the captain has to make some brave calls at times and Colly has done that - he is learning masses as captain because we have got this patch of one-day cricket."
Revival
England will now focus on the next challenge of their one-day itinerary when they take on Sri Lanka, which will test their revival following the recent triumph over India.
"We had a really good series against India which was a really good achievement because India were above us in the rankings," added Moores.
"We came to South Africa and had two good opportunities to win games against really good sides in New Zealand and South Africa and didn't take them - we have to take that on the chin but we set up chances to win the games.
"All the way through we're learning about how to play our best one-day cricket and it's part of a journey to get to where we want to be, which is ultimately the 2011 World Cup.
"The key is we take the lessons, good and bad, and we move forward quickly because Sri Lanka is going to be a really tough series, we know that and that's going to be another test for us."
