Collingwood brushes aside Warne taunts

Paul Collingwood insisted he was ready for any taunts he might receive from Shane Warne during the course of an Ashes season after the Australia leg-spin great questioned the all-rounder's captaincy.

Warne has been anything but impressed by the way in which Durham all-rounder Collingwood, captaining hosts England at the World Twenty20 while Test skipper Andrew Strauss sits out the series, has been leading the side.

Collingwood, who 'sledged' Warne during England's 2006/07 Ashes series defeat in Australia, said he was ready for any stick the Australia star, who has now retired from international cricket, might send his way in his role as a commentator for Sky Television.

"Listen, I'm going to get a lot of stick off him this summer - I know that for a fact," Collingwood, who will lead England in their Super Eights opener against South Africa at Trent Bridge on Thursday, said.

"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 queried whether Collingwood should have received an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) for playing in just one Test of England's 2005 Ashes winning series, wrote in his column on Wednesday in Britain's Times newspaper: "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."

LONDON, June 10, 2009 (AFP)