September 11, 2007	Tuesday	Sha'aban 28, 1428

JOHANNESBURG, Sept 10: England captain Paul Collingwood believes that going straight into the Twenty20 World Championship after a busy cricketing summer will benefit his team.

“It’s been a quick turnaround coming here but playing a lot of cricket recently will be good for us. Our skills are up to scratch and we’re obviously match-fit,” Collingwood told reporters on Monday. “We played some fantastic cricket against India, so we will go into this tournament with a lot of confidence and, with the experienced Twenty20 players we have in the squad, hopefully that will give us an edge.”

England flew to South Africa 24 hours after clinching a 4-3 one-day series win over India and Collingwood said there was still a buzz in the team.

“I wouldn’t make us favourites but it’s been a couple of days since the win over India, so we are all in a buoyant mood and that could work in our favour,” the skipper added.

England have been hit by another Andrew Flintoff injury scare but Collingwood is confident the all-rounder will play in the tournament.

“Freddie has a bit of soreness in his ankle, which we will assess as we go. But hopefully he can play every game. He is desperate to play. He’s a massive player for us, he’s two players in one.”

Collingwood said Dimitri Mascarenhas, a late replacement for the injured Ryan Sidebottom, would also play an important role as an all-rounder.

“Dimitri’s done fantastically well since he came into the one-day side. He hits the ball well and his bowling in the middle overs is very important to us,” he said.—Reuters