London, Sept.19: Scoring a duck in a cricket match would not merit much attention, but in England skipper Paul Collingwood’s case, it resulted in the media being all over him because his early dismissal against South Africa in a Twenty20 World Cup match was blamed on a visit to a strip club.

The 31-year-old father of one admitted that he went to a lap-dancing club in Cape Town in the early hours of Saturday morning. In less than 24 hours he was out for a duck against South Africa, reports The Daily Mail.

The one-day captain is far from alone in his less than perfect conduct. In June Test captain Michael Vaughan was spotted looking 'staggering drunk' in Manchester after celebrating a rare England victory.

His embarrassment was compounded by the fact that a week earlier he had criticised 'Freddie' Flintoff for his drinking antics, saying it had undermined team morale.

Flintoff had to be rescued from the sea off St Lucia in the Caribbean when he took out a pedalo at 4 a.m. after a drinking binge in March during the 2007 World Cup.

He paid for this indiscretion by being sacked from the Test vice-captaincy and fined 1,000 pounds.
After a meeting of England's management committee last night, Collingwood was also fined a similar amount for his behaviour.

The decision to discipline him would have been made by England coach Peter Moores in consultation with chairman of selectors David Graveney, who is a full-time member of the tour party both in South Africa and during the one-day series in Sri Lanka that follows.

Collingwood, who lives near Consett, County Durham, with his wife Vicky and their 11-month-old daughter, was forced to explain himself after his strip club trip became public.

Just over a fortnight ago, he declared his greatest vice was a love of clothes, and insisted his team 'don't need rules' because they are careful not to socialise to excess.

"It wasn't wise. I was taken to an inappropriate bar and when I realised that, I got out of there," Collingwood explained.

"I am disappointed with myself and hopefully it won't happen again. I've not experienced this kind of situation before but I would say that I was up at 7.30 the next morning playing golf so I was not too bad. It was unacceptable and I will have to learn from it,” he added. (With Inputs from ANI)