Paul Collingwood says England's World Twenty20 squad is stronger than the one he led to glory in 2010.
Confidence is crucial in quest for Twenty20 triumph, says Colly
Former skipper Paul Collingwood says England's current World Twenty20 squad is stronger than the one he led to title glory in 2010.
Collingwood - the first and only England captain to lift an ICC global tournament trophy to date - believes Stuart Broad has enough bowling firepower at his disposal to mount a serious defence of their crown.
Aside from Broad, the defending champions can call on frontline seamers Tim Bresnan and Jade Dernbach but Collingwood told
Sky Sports the most dangerous of all could be Middlesex paceman Steven Finn.
"I'd actually say that this time around England look a lot stronger," said the former all-rounder. "They've got two more years of experience and they've made good progress in Twenty20.
"Eoin Morgan, Michael Lumb - these guys have played a lot of Twenty20 cricket since the last tournament and Steven Finn is a real addition to the bowling attack.
"I'm a big believer that your bowling attacks are the ones that win you World Cups, Championships, Test matches and I think we've got a very strong bowling attack there.
"We've still got [spinner Graeme] Swann - but we're missing [Michael] Yardy. So it could be [Danny] Briggs or they may go with [Samit] Patel. I think they've got good substitutes.
"The way that Finn takes his wickets and the skills that Jade Dernbach has makes me believe we've got a very, very strong bowling attack on any kind of wicket."
Prepared
England managed to sneak through to the Super Eight stage of the 2010 tournament despite a Duckworth/Lewis defeat to the West Indies in the Group Stages and a No Result against Guyana, due to rain.
Collingwood's side then won all three of their Super Eight games - against Pakistan, South Africa and New Zealand - before beating Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the last four.
That set up a showdown with Australia in Barbados, which England won by seven wickets thanks in part to Craig Kieswetter's 63 and 47 from Kevin Pietersen.
Collingwood told
Sky Sports that meticulous planning was one of the reasons England's campaign ended in triumph.
"You need confidence, that's for sure, going into a tournament like this; you need to be prepared, so that you know where to bowl to opposition batsmen and you need a bit of luck, as well, along the way.
"Sometimes there can be a lot of nerves around when you're playing against the lesser sides - you've just got to win those games and get through it and hopefully get through to the next stages.
"One thing you need to find is your best team - plus knowing where your best players are going to play in the team. That means everyone knows eachother's role, which is crucial.
"So if someone does get out playing a big shot, everybody says 'that's your role in the side'."
