England have World T20 and Ashes triumphs on their mind: Collingwood

Updated on: 02 June,2009 08:07 AM IST |
Agencies |

Poms have World T20 and Ashes triumphs on their mind

Poms have World T20 and Ashes triumphs on their mind

No England side has ever won a major international one-day tournament but, with convincing victories in Test and one-day series against West Indies leading into this event and knowledge of home conditions, captain Collingwood is in upbeat mood.

Should England triumph in the June 21 final at Lord's that would be enough of a surprise, but Collingwood is convinced the more successful they are over the next few weeks, the more it will lift spirits for the Ashes challenge.

Confidence
"I think this is a one-off, three-week tournament and that's the way we are approaching it but, if we go all the way and win it, it's certainly going to give us some major confidence," said Collingwood.

"The Ashes is something completely different, something we've been building up to for a long time now and whatever happens in the next three weeks shouldn't affect how we approach that.

Results
"But a lot of that momentum comes from results. What we have now is a really strong team ethos and it's not just myself who will have to drive that, the experienced members of the team will have to drive that as well and filter that team culture through to the new guys and make it a strong unit."

England build up for the tournament with warm-up matches against Scotland at Trent Bridge today and against West Indies at Lord's on Wednesday before opening proceedings against Holland at Lord's next Friday.

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