Sri Lanka struggled to contain the flow of runs in sunny conditions after lunch as Latham cruised to his 29th Test half-century
Collingwood, who will lead the side against World Twenty20 champions Pakistan in the absense of Andrew Strauss, said: “There is no doubt that they are a strong side. They have a fantastic record in the Twenty20s and have got solid depth in their batting. But we played against a very good South Africa side and played some fantastic cricket over there. I think we have the confidence of doing well here.”
“This is going to be an important week for us,” Collingwood said with a focus on the Twenty20 World Cup that will be held in West Indies in May.
Being a captain he knows the responsibilities that comes with it and he duly supported young Alastair Cook being named captain for the Bangladesh series.
“I’m happy doing the Twenty20 job. This is a great opportunity to bring someone through, someone with new ideas, a young guy. He’ll bring a lot to the party.
“It’s important he gets this experience because you never know when Straussy is going to pick up an injury and we’ve got to have people who can step into his shoes.”
Collingwood said that he will be eager to help the 25-year-old, but he was confident that Cook was capable of leading the side in his own way.
“I haven’t given him any advice as yet. I’ve obviously got the first week here as captain myself but Cooky will do it his own way.
“That’s the important thing when you do the captaincy, that you do it yourself and have your own ideas. Obviously he’s got a lot of strong characters around him and a lot of experienced players but he’s an experienced England cricketer himself.
“We are there to support him if there are areas he needs help with but he’s really got to do it 100 per cent himself and take the team in the direction he wants to take them in.”
About the itinerary clash between the Indian Premier League and England and Wales Cricket Board, he said: “It would be ideal to get as many English players in the IPL and the Champions League as possible, especially for me as the Twenty20 captain,” he said.
“But the way our schedules are because we’re the only northern hemisphere team, we are going to miss parts of the IPL here and there. That is a shame because ideally we’d be love to there all of the time.”
Hoping that an agreement would be reached over the issue about the Champions League, he said: “It’s disappointing not to be able to play in the Champions League. Not just from a personal point of view but for the counties. They won’t get the chance to play in it because of the domestic season.
“There’s obviously only a small window they could have chosen to play the Champions League and unfortunately we’re going to miss out.
“Hopefully the hierarchy and the authorities get their heads together and turn it around somehow if they can. But as players we only have one priority — play for England.”
Sri Lanka struggled to contain the flow of runs in sunny conditions after lunch as Latham cruised to his 29th Test half-century
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