Flower persuaded Collingwood to become English captain again

London, May 02: England coach Andy Flower persuaded Paul Collingwood to become captain of the team’s World Twenty20 squad, weeks after he insisted that he would never lead England again.

Flower, appointed last month as full-time team director, persuaded him to change his mind.

“I said I’d take a lot of persuading to do it again. But this is for only three weeks — chances like this don’t come round every day. Andy was superb in what he said. It was clear he wanted me to do it. When you get someone like him backing you, it’s great,” Collingwood said.

“When I was one-day captain, there was a lot of stuff behind the scenes that I was constantly thinking about. I wanted to get back to being a foot soldier.”

“This is a different situation. Andy and I discussed how the job might affect my game. But I can’t see it taking much away from Test and 50-over cricket,” he added.

Collingwood, 32, stood down as one-day captain last August, the day pal Michael Vaughan quit as Test skipper. It ended a miserable period in his career.

He was condemned for allowing a run-out appeal last year after Kiwi Grant Elliott collided with bowler Ryan Sidebottom.

Collingwood was banned for four matches because of a slow over-rate and he presided over England’s disastrous 2007 World T20 in South Africa.