We can win ICC WT20: Collingwood

After two convincing wins in both their warm-up games, England captain Paul Collinwood says that his side is confident that it win will the ICC World Twenty20 2009.

The World Twenty20 gets underway in England tonight. The home-team will take on Netherlands in the opening match.

But even before the first ball of the tournament has been bowled, England’s Paul Collingwood believes his team is going to snatch the trophy from defending champions India.

In their second practice game, England were chasing 144 for victory against the West Indies. The England openers launched a heavy assault on the Caribbean fast bowlers as they romped home to a comfortable 9-wicket victory with over five overs to spare.

"(Beating West Indies) gave everybody a realization that we can do pretty well," said Collingwood, adding, "Having a performance like that does bring a lot of confidence.”

Pakistan is the third team in England’s group and Collingwood’s side will face last year’s finalists on Sunday.

But the skipper is unfazed about which opponent they have to face as he believes his team is confident and ready to go all the way in the tournament.

"We believe we can win it," said Collingwood. "I'm not saying we will win it because I don't want to put pressure on the boys by saying we'll win it.

"We believe we can and I'm quite happy with the boys keeping their feet on the ground and we're going to have to play to our absolute best if we're going to win it so at the moment I'm quite happy with the position we're in.”

While it was Kevin Pietersen who struck form in England’s first warm-up game against Scotland, it was the openers – Ravi Bopara and Luke Wright – who propelled them to victory against West Indies.

The duo scored boundaries at will and often had successive hits to the fence. Wright scored a commanding 75 off 48 balls while Bopara scored his 60 runs from 35 balls which was at a faster rate.

"I'm not going to come out with any big statements, but we believe as a team that it's a great opportunity for us. Twenty20 cricket brings teams closer together and anything can happen on the day - if you produce performances like Ravi Bopara and Luke Wright did then you're going to win games."