PAUL COLLINGWOOD has laughed off criticism of his captaincy from Shane Warne and insisted he was going to ‘‘grin and bear’’ the continued sniping he expects during the course of the Ashes summer.
Australian spin legend Warne, writing in his column in yesterday’s Times newspaper, continued his long-running battle with Collingwood by dismissing his captaincy credentials during the ICC World Twenty20 tournament.
But Collingwood, whose England side face South Africa at Trent Bridge in their first Super Eights game of the tournament today, has brushed off Warne’s comments and has admitted he is expecting far more once his adversary becomes part of Sky TV’s commentary team for the Ashes.
‘‘Listen, I’m going to get a lot of stick off him this summer – I know that for a fact,’’ said Collingwood.
‘‘I haven’t got any comeback against him now because he’s in the media so I can’t actually sledge him back.
‘‘We had a ding dong out in the middle of the last Ashes series and I’m the kind of person who wants to compete with him, I want to win and whether he likes that I don’t know.
‘‘I’m going to get plenty more off him this summer but I’ll just have to grin and bear it because I can’t say anything back to him now.’’ Warne, who famously questioned whether Collingwood should have received an MBE for playing in only one match of the 2005 Ashes series during England’s tour Down Under two years ago, said: ‘‘Tactically, I haven’t been too impressed with Paul Collingwood...
I don’t see him as a captain.
‘‘You need to get funky at times, throw a bit of caution to the wind and show a bit of flair and imagination. I don’t think that Collingwood has that. His fielding positions always seem a little basic to me.’’ Warne’s criticism of England’s captain comes on the same day it was confirmed that former Australian coach John Buchanan would be flying over to help with their Ashes preparations in the week before the first Test in Cardiff on July 8.
The 56-year-old is due to visit England for the second time in a matter of weeks and is poised to have a further meeting with coach Andy Flower and the rest of the backroom staff in the buildup to the first Ashes Test in Cardiff on July 8.
Buchanan, who left his job as Australia’s coach following their 2007 World Cup success in the Caribbean after eight years in charge, has already had one meeting with England’s backroom staff several weeks ago following the final one-day international against West Indies in Birmingham.
He’s been asked to work with England’s player development programme, principally under-16s, under-19s and the Lions and will be based at the National Performance Centre in Loughborough.
But with England Lions having a four-day fixture against Australia in Worcester starting on July 1, there’s every chance he’ll have an input into their preparation for the tourists’ final match before Ashes start.
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