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MANCHESTER - If Daniel Vettori thought was life was tough as New Zealand test cricket captain, he can look across at Paul Collingwood and breathe slightly easier.
The England Twenty20 and one-day international skipper goes into this series in a horror batting form slump, and dealing with the potentially divisive impact of Texan billionaire Allen Stanford's bottomless pockets.
This week's announcement by Stanford, after he flew onto Lord's in a helicopter, that England would play the West Indies in Twenty20 for a winner-takes-all prize of US$1 million ($1.33 million) per player created a media frenzy.
The Antigua match in November will be worth US$20m: US$11m to the winning team, US$1m each to be split among the non-playing squad members and support staff; and the remaining US$7m split between the England and West Indies boards.
It was the only topic of conversation with Collingwood on the eve of the Twenty20 match against their poorer cousins New Zealand here.
Would it make players more selfish to ensure selection? Would jealousy among those not selected divide the dressing room? Would there be repercussions for the player who dropped the vital catch that cost them US$1 million each...?
Collingwood insisted winning the match wouldn't rival the euphoria of beating Australia to win the Ashes in 2005, but problems could arise.
"That's the scary thing about the whole situation, there isn't actually anything for the game, it's not a World Cup, it's not the Ashes, which is what you dream about playing as a kid," Collingwood said.
"This game is just actual money. None of us have been in that kind of position before, so how people react...we're going into kind of a grey area.
"If you win the game you get the money, but on the other side it can be quite dangerous because if you lose it'll be quite devastating."
Collingwood was still struggling to comprehend playing for US$1 million in one three-hour slogfest, after he revealed his initial county contract with Durham was worth £9500 ($24,700) per season.
He also expressed grave concern for test cricket, particularly among the subcontinent countries where Twenty20 might become the dominant format.
"Twenty20 gets all this money when tests don't get a fraction of it. From an ICC point of view they're really got to nail down where they want to go with the game in the next generation.
"We've got to look at where the ICC want to take cricket around the world. We've got to get money in world cricket and get it closer to Twenty20."
Collingwood said dressing room discussion about Twenty20 riches would be kept to a minimum during the five-match one-day series which starts near Durham on Sunday as England try to avenge a 1-3 loss in New Zealand.
Of more pressing concern is Collingwood's scratchy form after he averaged just 10.66 in the test series and even struggled for county runs this year.
Vettori said the change to one-day cricket might be the perfect opportunity for a form turnaround, but admitted the chance was still there for New Zealand's bowlers to attack him.
Said Collingwood: "Without a doubt I've been struggling with the bat and it's nice to get into a different form of the game and free your arms, try to go out with a bit of freedom and hit the ball again.
"I was putting too much pressure on myself, whatever the reason I wasn't hitting the ball as well as I wanted to."
- NZPA
