ENGLAND one-day skipper Paul Collingwood is tipping Bromley duo Lydia Greenway and Lynsey Askew to land the inaugural women's Twenty20 World Cup crown, writes Ryan Bangs.

The men and women's teams will play side by side for the first time in a major competition as England prepares to host the second ever Twenty20 World Cup next June.

Greenway and Askew have already featured for England in a crushing win against the West Indies in July and both will be hoping to put down a sizeable selection marker when South Africa and India arrive on home soil later this summer.

And Collingwood, who has 145 ODI caps, scoring more than 3,500 runs, is relishing the prospect of both England's men and women going for glory.

The 27-year-old all-rounder said: "The fact the women's ICC World Twenty20 tournament will be running alongside the men's competition in England next year just shows how high the standard is throughout the women's game.

"Next year's World Cup Twenty20 will be a unique event as fans have the opportunity to watch both the England men's and England women's team fight it out for the title of world champions.

"The prospect of having both England teams playing alongside each other in the finals at Lord's is a mouth watering one."

Greenway and Askew saw their Kent male counterparts come within three runs of retaining their domestic Twenty20 title at the weekend and this has whetted Greenway's appetite.

And the former Hayes School pupil, who has won seven Twenty20 international caps, believes the shorter version of the game will help England women's cricket go from strength to strength.

"Twenty20 is great, I love watching and playing it," said Greenway.

"The matches are shorter and faster and great fun for everybody involved and it will get more girls playing the game.

"It's breathed new life into the county game and the crowds they have been getting have been great.

"We played a game down at Somerset after the men played and most of the crowd stayed on and it was a great experience to show people what we can do.

"A lot of people will hopefully have gone away from that impressed and I'm sure they will be out in force to support the men and women next June. I can't wait."

To watch England Women in action in the NatWest women's series at various grounds across the country, visit ecb.co.uk/womens