Collingwood feels Bresnan must find his own path and not follow Flintoff's

Collingwood and Bresnan were instrumental in England's first international tournament triumph in the Caribbean on Sunday when they thrashed Australia to lift the World Twenty20 trophy.

And Collingwood, who smacked the winning runs to put a smile on the face of English cricket, paid tribute to the Yorkshireman and his contribution.

Bresnan, 25, took three wickets in six matches and Collingwood said: "We can all see how he's improved as a cricketer over the years.

"Like all the younger guys, another year of international cricket has put him in good stead.

"He's getting more confident all the time in the roles he's performing for England. Everybody sees him as a big Yorkshire lad, running into bowl and hitting the deck hard but he's a very skilful bowler.

"His batting is improving all the time as well.

"As you gain in confidence as a player you do get better and better.

"He's certainly got all the attributes for Twenty20 cricket, and we've already seen what he can do in Test cricket.

"He's very adaptable and he's also a great lad to have in the dressing room.

"With Yorkshire doing well in the County Championship he's forever giving me stick from the back of the bus, shouting 'Hey Colly, Yorkshire's got another wicket'.

"Tim's overall package is very much the perfect package in terms of what he brings to the cricket team."

With people constantly looking for an all-rounder to fill the shoes of Flintoff, every time the Pontefract-born player makes an impact at international level, parallels are drawn with England's former talisman.

Bresnan's Test and ODI career has been sporadic since debuting in Twenty20 against Sri Lanka in June 2006, but in his four Test matches his average of 50 with the bat and 32.30 with ball in hand, suggests that with more opportunities he could seal a regular spot in the five-day team.

To achieve his full potential, however, Collingwood believes Bresnan must carve a niche of his own.

"Tim should concentrate on being the next Tim Bresnan, rather than being the next 'Freddie'," said Collingwood, who was at Headingley Carnegie yesterday in his role as ambassador for Yorkshire Bank and the CB40 competition.

"I'm sure Freddie thought exactly the same and got frustrated with the comparisons to (Ian) Botham.

"Tim's got to be the best player he can possibly be, not try to emulate somebody else.

"Be as good as you can be. As long as you do that you're going to contribute to the England cricket team."

Bresnan's Yorkshire team-mate Ajmal Shahzad did not get as many opportunities in the Caribbean, save for the two wickets he took against Pakistan in the Super Eights, but his enthusiasm from the sidelines caught the captain's eye.

"It's important when guys aren't playing that they provide energy for the players," said Collingwood, who is back on England duty in the first Test against Bangladesh next Thursday.

"The guys were brilliant, they 100 per cent knew the reasons why they weren't playing, and as long as they know and accept that, that's a contribution because we had to make a lot of hard decisions and there has to be players who miss out.

"Ajmal has a lot of talent, he's another skilful bowler with a lot of pace and he has a bright future ahead of him."