Collingwood urges bold approach

All-rounder Paul Collingwood has urged England to be bold in their upcoming one-day series in South Africa.

England have won five of their last six 50-over contests against the Proteas, the last during the Champions Trophy - the other game was washed out.

"Hopefully, we can have a bit of an upset again," said Collingwood, a veteran of 170 one-day internationals and also England's Twenty20 captain.

But he admitted: "They're a very well-drilled unit, we know that."

England start their tour against the Diamond Eagles in Bloemfontein on Friday.

And over the next three months, England will face South Africa in five one-dayers, two Twenty20 internationals and four Test matches.

Collingwood, 33, who skippers for the Twenty20s with Andrew Strauss leading England for the other games, is predicting a tough battle once the international matches start on 13 November.

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" The rich history of English cricket has been enriched by the foreign imports. In the case of South Africans, the trickle began a long time ago, with Basil D'Oliveira in 1966 "

He said: "This is a huge series for us, playing the number one side in the world in their back yard, is going to be a big challenge for us.

"We're very, very excited to get going and looking forward to playing against them."

South Africa's most recent loss to England - a 22-run defeat which knocked them out of the Champions Trophy in September - helped boost the tourists' stranglehold in one-day cricket.

But Collingwood said England did not have any psychological edge as a result of their run of good results.

"I think it's safe to say they're the number one side in the world and you don't become number one just overnight. That takes a long time," he said.

"We've probably played our best cricket when we've been bold, going out there and taking it to the opposition"

"We know that if we do play to our best, we can beat anybody on the day. So hopefully we'll have more days like that.

"We've probably played our best cricket when we've been bold, going out there and taking it to the opposition. But on the other hand, you have a bit of a hiccup playing like that all the time as well.

"We've just got to make sure we attack on the right times and on the right wickets."

England have shaken up their squad since the Champions Trophy, with batsmen Ravi Bopara and Owais Shah out, and Lancashire seamer Sajid Mahmood - who last played for England when Duncan Fletcher was coach - back in favour.

England (from): A Strauss (captain), J Denly, A Cook, M Prior (wicket), P Collingwood, E Morgan, J Trott, L Wright, S Broad, A Rashid, T Bresnan, G Swann, S Mahmood, J Anderson, G Onions.

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