Colly reprieved but England struggle

Paul Collingwood was at the centre of another sporting call from a captain in England's Champions Trophy contest against New Zealand.

Collingwood was reprieved by Black Caps captain Daniel Vettori after carelessly wandering out of his ground, in the 11th over of the day-nighter at the Wanderers. Having been beaten by a brute of a delivery from Kyle Mills, Collingwood stepped two yards up the wicket to examine the spot it had landed and wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum under-armed into the stumps in a flash.

Technically, Collingwood should have made an attempt to make his ground before his spot of pitch gardening, and square-leg umpire Asad Rauf called for third umpire adjudication.

TV official Aleem Dar confirmed Collingwood out on the replay screen, and he should have been run out under the laws of the game, Vettori withdrew the appeal following prolonged discussions with his team-mates.

As New Zealand prepared to start the next over, Collingwood ran to mid-off to shake hands with Vettori.

This latest captaincy issue - following incidents involving Angelo Mathews and Graeme Smith - came during an England slump to 104 for seven after 30 overs.

Their top order was blitzed by an injury-hit New Zealand, to such an extent that they managed just 36 for three in the first two sets of powerplays.

Andrew Strauss, Joe Denly and Owais Shah all perished inside the opening half-a-dozen overs after the New Zealanders won the toss.

Collingwood, who cracked three sixes in his score of 40, was also undone by extra lift as he miscued a pull off Grant Elliott to midwicket.

And Elliott trebled his return with the dismissals of Luke Wright and Stuart Broad in quick succession.