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Collingwood given the nod as England one-day skipper

Paul Collingwood was named captain of England's one-day cricket team yesterday.

The all-rounder succeeded Michael Vaughan, who stepped down after England's lackluster performance at this year's World Cup.

Collingwood gets his first chance to lead the side on July 1 when England play West Indies at Lord's in the first of three matches. Vaughan, who is still captain of the Test team, will not be there after he was dropped from the squad yesterday.

"We were keen to identify the best way for the team to play in the one-day game, pick players who can perform certain roles and keep one eye on the need to build towards the World Cup in 2011," chairman of selectors David Graveney said.

Although Vaughan is one of the game's most renowned captains and averages 43.65 runs in Tests, he has never hit a century in 86 one-day matches and averages just 27.15 in the short form of the game.

Collingwood, one of the team's few successes in the World Cup, has four centuries from 121 one-day matches and an average of 34.89.

"The selectors believe that Paul Collingwood's experience and performances in the one-day game make him the ideal candidate to lead the side," Graveney said. "He has been a key member of the one-day team for a while and we believe he is ready to take on the additional responsibility."

Collingwood takes charge of a one-day team that never got close to reaching the semi-finals at the World Cup.

Although second only to Australia in the Test rankings, England have slipped to seventh in the one-day standings -- above only West Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland, Zimbabwe and Kenya.

Of the 15 players from England's World Cup squad, only seven made the 14-man group for the matches against West Indies.

Paul Nixon, Ravi Bopara, Ed Joyce, Andrew Flintoff, Andrew Strauss, Jamie Dalrymple and Sajid Mahmood were left out, while Vaughan's was the highest profile omission.

The squad included two new players in Warwickshire batsman Jonathan Trott and Hampshire all-rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas.

Mascarenhas could well play because fellow all-rounders Flintoff and Bopara are out injured.
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