England one-day captain Paul Collingwood has been banned for four matches after his side's slow over-rate against New Zealand on Wednesday. He will not appeal and misses the final match of the current series, a Twenty20 match against South Africa and two one-dayers later in the summer. "It's my responsibility to bear the penalties for such a breach," he said. Kevin Pietersen has been named captain for Saturday's final match of the series against New Zealand. An International Cricket Council statement said the punishment imposed on Collingwood was the minimum allowed. It is the first time an English player has been banned under the ICC code of conduct. But after missing Saturday's match, the 32-year-old all-rounder will be free to play in the four-match Test series against South Africa starting next month, before his ban continues with a one-day match against Scotland in Edinburgh on 18 August.
He will also sit out England's sole Twenty20 international against South Africa, their last match in that format before the mega-bucks Stanford clash against West Indies on 1 November.
And Collingwood will complete his ban by missing the first of five one-day internationals against South Africa, at Headingley on 22 August. "I'll have to take the punishment. It's part and parcel of the job. As captain you do carry the can on that and it is my responsibility to get our overs bowled quickly. "It's a fair few games off and it's something I never envisaged I'd have to do but I have to accept it." Collingwood met match referee Javagal Srinath to learn his fate on Thursday, the day after the fourth ODI against New Zealand - which finished well past its scheduled 1830 BST finish.
The ICC said it had to ban Collingwood because he had previously offended in the same way in the preceding 12 months - in a match against India in Bristol on 24 August 2007. The other 10 England players in the side at The Oval have been fined 15% of their match fee for the deficit, but Collingwood escaped a financial penalty as his punishment has come in the form of the ban instead. The suspension completed a miserable 24 hours for the man from Durham, who was appointed captain of England's one-day side in June 2007. England lost a nail-biting finish to the match at The Oval, New Zealand taking a 2-1 lead into the final match on Saturday. And Collingwood was also involved in a controversial incident when he chose not to rescind his team run-out appeal against the unfortunate Grant Elliott.
At last it seems the ICC is going to be tougher on teams that do not bowl their overs in time. The New Zealand all-rounder collided with England's Ryan Sidebottom as he went for the run - and was injured in the process - but the umpires had to send him back to the pavilion.
Asked if he thought the ban was fair, Swann replied: "Personally, I don't think it is. It's the England captain and I want him playing every game. The only previous international captains to be banned in these circumstances are Sourav Ganguly of India, and South Africa's Graeme Smith.
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