One day dream believer

integral member of the England side has culminated in him earning the job of leading the oneday team from the dark ages into a brave new world.

It seems a long time since Shane Warne and the Australians poked fun at Collingwood for receiving an MBE for his one-Test supporting role in the 2005 Ashes triumph, but the son of Shotley Bridge has always been a man of character and a cricketer of substance. Now we will discover whether he can be a captain, too.

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Collingwood's elevation to the one-day captaincy yesterday came as little surprise. Now he must prove he can carry out his stated aims of asking his young team to display "aggression and intensity and to express themselves in a positive way."

He must also work with his close friend Michael Vaughan to ensure the split captaincy system — which everybody accepts is not ideal — can actually work.

While 31-year-old Collingwood has been the clear choice over the past few days, England did have a couple of surprises up their sleeve by naming Warwickshire's South African-born Jonathan Trott, an aggressive top order batsman, and Hampshire all-rounder Dimitri Mascarenhas in their squad.

After a week in which Collingwood has scored a Test century on his home ground, helped Durham to their first Lord's final and been asked to captain his country, he admitted that "only a huge summer signing for Sunderland" could make life any better at the moment.

Mind you, based on their one-day form of the past 15 years, England have only a slightly better chance of winning the next World Cup than Roy Keane has of recruiting Ronaldinho to play at the Stadium of Light.

Make no mistake, Collingwood has a huge job on his hands. If he remains the conservative choice ahead of the flair of Kevin Pietersen — who would have been persuaded to take the job if England had favoured him — the unquestioned leadership skills of Andrew Strauss, who did not merit selection, and the undoubted potential of Alastair Cook, it is fair to say Collingwood has risen to every challenge that has come his way. This is the biggest so far.

"We haven't been a great one-day side for some time," said Collingwood with considerable understatement.

"There will be some experimentation along the way but our best chance of doing well in big tournaments will be by having a settled side full of self-belief and consistency of performance."

Collingwood admitted captaincy has never been a big ambition for him but once it became clear Vaughan really did have to stand down for the good of the one-day side, he changed his policy from the start of the season of "not being sure I'd take the job if it came along."

Yesterday he said: "Once an opportunity like this comes along you can't say no. It's a dream come true in every respect".

The nature of modern international cricket means the best players rarely get the chance to captain counties and Collingwood will step out at the Brit Oval for the first of the two Twenty20 matches against West Indies next Thursday with only seven senior matches as captain at Durham to his name.

Then he will have to decide if he can lead the side from his specialist position of backward point and rely on others to keep a close eye on what the batsmen and bowlers are doing from slip or mid-on.

England's surprise selection gives Trott the chance to provide the fireworks at the top of the order which were so painfully lacking at the World Cup.

Trott gets his chance ahead of Essex's Mark Pettini on the back of a limited-overs career average in excess of 40.

There was also a surprise reward for Mascarenhas after 11 years with Hampshire with the call-up that his chief cheerleader Warne has advocated for years.

His challenge will be to prove he is more than a bit-part player. Mascarenhas, born in London to Sri Lankan parents and who spent his first 18 years in Perth, adds to the cosmopolitan nature of the squad along with Trott, who only qualified for England this year.

England appear to have gone back on their policy of allowing Liam Plunkett to refine his game away from the spotlight by throwing him straight back into the one-day squad, seemingly on the back of his match-winning performance for Durham in the Friends Provident semi-final against Essex on Wednesday.

It can only be hoped that Plunkett remembers his successes against Adam Gilchrist in January more than his painful appearance at Old Trafford the week before last.

While chairman of selectors David Graveney insisted that this squad was not picked with the 2011 World Cup in mind, it is refreshing to note Collingwood is the only player included who is past 30.

They could all conceivably play in that next World Cup but with Andrew Flintoff, Ravi Bopara and Marcus Trescothick all sure to return when fully fit, there will undoubtedly be casualties along the way on a four-year journey that starts here.

Collingwood now has to ensure that the "back to basics" policy of the last World Cup really is consigned to history and England instead go back to a future which other countries have embraced for years.

ENGLAND SQUAD

P Collingwood (Durham, capt) 31 (age), 121 (Apps)

M Prior (Sussex, wkt) 25, 12

A Cook (Essex) 22, 2

I Bell (Warwickshire) 25, 44

K Pietersen (Hampshire) 26, 49

O Shah (Middlesex) 28, 18

D Mascarenhas (Hampshire) 29, 0

J Trott (Warwickshire) 26, 0

L Plunkett (Durham) 22, 25

R Sidebottom (Notts) 29, 2

S Broad (Leicestershire) 20, 6

J Anderson (Lancashire) 24, 66

M Panesar (Northants) 25, 17

M Yardy (Sussex) 26, 5

FIXTURES (England v West Indies) —

Thurs, Jun 28: NatWest Int'l Twenty20 (The Oval); Fri, Jun 29: NatWest Int'l Twenty20 (The Oval); Sun, Jul 1 : First NatWest One-day Int'l (Lord's); Wed, July 4: Second NatWest One-day Int'l (Edgbaston); Sat, July 4: Third NatWest One-day Int'l (Trent Bridge).