'England will be very aggressive': Assistant coach Collingwood

Paul Collingwood; (right) England skipper and all-rounder Ben Stokes during a practice session in Birmingham yesterday. Pic/Getty Images

It's hard to believe, but England's assistant coach Paul Collingwood, 47, did not watch a single ball of the recent World Test Championship (WTC) final at The Oval in London where Australia outclassed India by 209 runs on Sunday. Collingwood, a three-time Ashes winner, however, did follow the end-of-day scores.

‘Not sure of favourites tag'

When mid-day asked him if the WTC triumph gave Pat Cummins & Co a slight advantage over England ahead of the big Ashes contest, the former England captain replied: "I'm not sure [about] who has the advantage. I don't know whether we look for favourites or not. But the most exciting thing is you've got two teams at the top of their game and they go head-to-head and this is what Test cricket means.

Also Read: Australians were always favourites

Exciting weeks ahead

"Next three weeks, five Test matches are so exciting and that's what you want as a cricket fan. You never know what's going to happen when you turn the TV on or listen to the radio because. But one of the two teams - England is going to do [play] in a very aggressive manner."

Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon claimed five wickets in the WTC final and Collingwood is well aware that he could be a threat to the hosts. "Lyon is a threat, yes. Look, he is a world-class bowler. His technique with the ball, his turn is really good and it's good for the Australian team because he can hold the momentum. But we are not worried, we are excited [about playing Lyon]," said Collingwood during a virtual media interaction organised by the Sony Sports
Network.

The first Ashes Test will begin at Birmingham on Friday.