Collingwood set to resume T20 captaincy

(GETTY IMAGES)

England will name a new captain when the squad for the World Twenty20 is announced today. The chances are that Paul Collingwood will resume the role from which he resigned last summer, leading a team whose state of disarray is undeniable.

That the hosts of the second world tournament still do not know their captain five weeks before it starts demonstrates how they have failed to keep pace with the rest of the world. England have had a torrid time in the T20 arena, bowled out for 99 in the $20m winner-takes-all match in the Stanford Series last autumn and then for 121 by West Indies in March. Of the 30 players in the preliminary squad, 12 have never played international T20.

Andrew Strauss, the Test and 50-overs captain, withdrew his name from consideration and Robert Key seems to be Collingwood's only serious rival because of his domestic success with Kent. But he too has never played an international T20 match.