Murali has more variety than Warne: Collingwood

London, Jun 2 (UNI) England all-rounder Paul Collingwood believes Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan has more variety than his Australian rival Shane Warne.

''It is hard to say who is better between Murali and Shane Warne but Warney doesn't have the same kind of variety. Murali has the doosra, top-spinners, big off-spinners and changes his pace a lot,'' Collingwood wrote in his column for the BBC Sport.

''He seems to be turning his doosra delivery more and more and the left-handers are struggling with it. He can turn it a long way both ways, can put it on the right spot and is hard to pick,'' he added.

The all-rounder said though he was impressed with team mate Kevin Pietersen's aggressive approach towards Murali's bowling but was not sure whether the explosive batsman picked all his balls.

Collingwood also ruled out trying Pietersen's formula in his own batting.

''The thing about Pietersen is he hits the ball so hard and even if he scuffs a shot it goes for four or six. I don't think he picks Murali 100 per cent of the time but he backs himself to clear the ropes if he doesn't quite get to the pitch of the ball,'' he said.

Collingwood praised Pietersen's work ethics and said the right-hander had worked hard to scale the heights.

''Although KP has in-your-face confidence, he wants to improve all the time and he is always in the nets working on things. He is also really good in the way he helps the other lads out,'' Collingwood said.

UNI XC PM SSC1206