Collingwood took over the one-day captaincy after the World Cup

England will play two Twenty20 and five one-day internationals, and though the Kiwis will be without key paceman Shane Bond, Collingwood expects a battle.

"I've always thought they are a canny side, a clever side," he said.

"They play street cricket against you and no matter who comes in I'm sure they'll put a good side out and they'll be difficult to beat."

However, the England skipper admitted that a New Zealand team without Bond would be considerably weakened.

This will be a massive challenge for us Paul Collingwood

The 32-year-old paceman has 125 wickets from his 67 one-day internationals, and took 4-46 against England in February 2007.

"We were preparing ourselves to play against him and it's a big loss for them that he's not here," Collingwood side.

"We obviously rate him highly. Any bowler that bowls at 90mph-plus is pretty difficult to play against, he's been the spearhead of their attack and he's very good at the death as well."

Skipper Daniel Vettori remains a threat with his left-arm spin, and claimed 5-7 from six overs in the team's most recent one-day international, against Bangladesh in December 2007.

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Chasing 94 in that match, wicket-keeper/batsman Brendon McCullum blasted nine fours and six sixes in an unbeaten 80 from just 28 balls as they sealed victory in six overs.

"They beat Australia here last year and they have a lot of world-class players who can take the game away from you," Collingwood said.

"This will be a massive challenge for us."

England have two warm-up matches before the first of the Twenty20 internationals, which takes place in Auckland on 5 February.