Interview - Paul Collingwood: On top of the world thanks to legacy of Vaughan

NEARLY two years have passed since Michael Vaughan stepped down as England captain but the self-belief the former Yorkshire batsman instilled in the national dressing room is still being felt today.

As a buoyant England prepare for the first of their summer Test series' against Bangladesh this week, Vaughan's legacy has been applauded by Paul Collingwood, the man who guided them to their first major international trophy success in the Caribbean eight days ago.

The World Twenty20-winning captain played under Vaughan in the 2005 Ashes series, when England's cricketers finally overcame the shackles of under-achievement and claimed a landmark triumph.

And while Collingwood concedes the national set-up has evolved under Andy Flower and Test captain Andrew Strauss, the Durham batsman says English cricket still has much to thank Vaughan for.

"A lot of our win last week has come from Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower, because it's a different era now, but Michael definitely left a lot of his traits in me as a player, and I'm sure anybody who has played under him will say exactly the same thing," said Collingwood, who misses this week's Test with a shoulder injury.

"The one thing he brought, that we still go back to, is the belief that you beat the best.

"In 2005, Australia were probably the best side in the history of cricket, but Michael brought the belief that we could beat them.

"That is still instilled in our play now as a country whenever we come up against the best sides."

Australia were again on the losing end last Sunday as England won a world final for the first time in five attempts.

They did not so much win against the pre-match favourites, as hammer the old enemy, with Collingwood the man who smacked the clinching runs after important contributions further up the order from Kevin Pietersen and Craig Kieswetter.

Collingwood says he 'couldn't give a monkey's' who struck the decisive blow, focussing instead on being a captain who, like Vaughan, put his players first.

"I'm very much my own man in terms of how I approach the captaincy," added Collingwood, "and you should be, because you don't want to start trying to do things that other captains were good at.

"But one of the major things Michael did as a captain was he just tried to relax the players as much as possible, even if he was nervous or if there was a lot going through his mind, you'd never see that because he was always so calm.

"That is one of the traits I try to put out to the rest of the players.

"One thing I really liked about Michael was that he used to tell you to go out there and express yourself as much as possible as a player.

"It's great to have that confidence from your captain, to say 'don't necessarily think about the consequences just back yourself to go out and perform'."

One of the criticisms levelled at Vaughan and the England team of 2005 was that they did not build on their success, losing the Ashes in shattering fashion in Australia 18 months later when the Yorkshire batsman was ruled out by injury.

A return Down Under beckons for England later this year as Collingwood, Strauss and company look to make a better fist of defending the little urn they won back last summer.

And last weekend's triumph in the Caribbean shows England are learning from the mistakes of the post-2005 era.

What Collingwood and Strauss must do now is maintain that progression.

Collingwood, who turns 34 on Wednesday, said: "It's not just a case of keeping the momentum, we want to improve all the time.

"We've got two of the biggest series coming up, the Ashes in Australia and then the one-day World Cup (next May). We've done something really good over the last few weeks but we realise we have to keep improving in this six-month period before the Ashes.

"It'd be ridiculous for all the players to say 'we've won something let's just sit back and chill out'.

"The scope for improvement in our side is massive and that's one of the big things I've really enjoyed being a part of over the past year, the boys have worked so hard to improve individually and as a team.

"The amount we could still improve over the next six months could be crucial going into those two big series."

Collingwood was speaking at Headingley Carnegie in his ambassadorial role for Yorkshire Bank and the CB40 competition, just 24 hours after he and the squad landed at Gatwick to a heroes' welcome.

The celebrations for England's breakthrough one-day achievement went on long into the Barbadian night and Collingwood was still pinching himself at the accomplishment.

"It's one of my mottos in the game, you work hard enough to achieve success so when you do you should celebrate it collectively," he said.

Collingwood's journey...

Summer 1996 – Collingwood debuts in first-class cricket for Durham against Northamptonshire.

June 2001 – First England appearance is in One-Day International against Pakistan at Edgbaston.

Dec 2003 – Test debut against Sri Lanka at Galle.

June 2005 – Twenty20 debut against Australia at the Rose Bowl.

Sept 2005 – Called up by Michael Vaughan to play in decisive Ashes Test at The Oval, featuring in a crucial 60-run stand with Kevin Pietersen.

June 2007 – Named captain of Twenty20 and ODI squad in a year that ended with him named in Wisden's five top players of the year.

Aug 2008 – Relinquishes captaincy of ODI squad on same day as Vaughan quits Test captaincy.

Nov 2009 – Overtakes Alec Stewart as England's most-capped ODI player during game against South Africa.

May 2010 – Leads England to World Twenty20 triumph in the Caribbean.

Full Collingwood interview at www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/podcasts