Cricket World Cup 2015: Paul Collingwood warns England

Paul Collingwood played 197 ODIs for England

England's dreadful start to the World Cup could yet get worse, says Scotland assistant coach Paul Collingwood.

England have suffered heavy back-to-back defeats by Australia and New Zealand to leave them bottom of Pool A.

They face Scotland in Christchurch on Monday and Collingwood says Scotland pose them a significant threat.

"There's real confidence and belief we can get a win," he said. "The guys are getting closer and closer against international opposition."

Scotland have already shown they are no pushovers, running New Zealand far closer than England managed in their World Cup opener, suffering a three-wicket defeat, while Peter Moores's side were demolished by eight wickets inside 13 overs.

Former England international Collingwood's side also fell just short against the West Indies in their final warm-up game before the tournament, losing by three runs when chasing 314.

"We fought all the way to the end against New Zealand and it was only a three-wicket margin and we should have won against the West Indies the week before so we're getting there," added Collingwood.

"That's going to be an amazing feeling if we can get that first-ever World Cup win under our belt, there's no better time than against England. That would mean so much to Scottish cricket.

"Hopefully the guys will be singing 'Flower of Scotland' in the dressing room come Monday."

Collingwood, who captained England to their only major global tournament success at the 2010 World Twenty20, thinks England's selection has been wrong so far, highlighted by a lack of power in the batting.

"England has got the most powerful batting line-up we've ever had if we pick players like Ravi Bopara in the middle order and Alex Hales up the top," he said.

"County cricket is producing some very good attacking players like Jason Roy at Surrey. The one-day game is going that way and it's almost like we don't want to take risks."

Meanwhile, Scotland captain Preston Mommsen says he is "surprised" that England did not snap up Collingwood as a coach before he was appointed to the Scottish coaching staff.

"He's a World Cup-winning captain at the end of the day," said the South Africa-born 27-year-old.

"You can't really buy that kind of experience. We are very happy to have him, so England's loss is our gain."

And Mommsen feels Collingwood's intimate knowledge of the England squad will give his side an edge going into Monday's match.

"He's been very informative about the players and has obviously played with these guys for a long time, so he knows them very specifically as well," Mommsen continued.

"He's offered a lot of insight. We have very clear plans. Hopefully that will give us an advantage."