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Pietersen named stand-in England captain

26/06/2008

Middle-order batsman Kevin Pietersen has been named stand-in England captain for the fifth one-day international against New Zealand at Lord's on Saturday.

The South African-born star will deputise for Paul Collingwood, who was handed a four-match ban by the International Cricket Council (ICC) earlier today because of England's slow over rate in the fourth ODI at the Oval yesterday.

Pietersen will captain the England side in what will be his 76th ODI after making his debut against Zimbabwe in 2004.

And he said he was "humbled" to be asked to fulfil the role, which he said has been "a dream" for some time.

"To be asked to captain your country is the ultimate honour in sport and I feel privileged and proud to have been asked to lead the side on Saturday," he said.

"I'm very much looking forward to leading the team against New Zealand and am excited by the challenge of captaining such a young and talented side.

"We can't win this NatWest Series but I, like the rest of the dressing room, expect an outstanding England performance to finish the series on a high."

Collingwood said: "Obviously I'm disappointed to be missing England's next four limited-overs matches but as a team we are aware of the rules and regulations in place and it's my responsibility to bear the penalties for such a breach.

"Clearly we'll look to address the problem so it doesn't happen again.

"The England captaincy means the world to me and already I'm looking forward to leading the one-day team against South Africa in August.

"I wish my team-mates all the best for Saturday's final ODI as we aim to finish the series with a win."

As well as this weekend's game, Collingwood's suspension also rules the Durham all-rounder out of the ODI against Scotland in Edinburgh on August 18th, the Twenty20 International against South Africa on August 20th at his home ground of Chester-le-Street and the first ODI against South Africa on August 22nd at Headingley.

However, no decision has yet been made over whether Pietersen will retain the captaincy for these matches.