Skipper seeks salvation in short form

Paul Collingwood is hoping for a change in fortune in today's NatWest Twenty20

Buy this photo

England skipper Paul Collingwood is aiming to recapture his form during the forthcoming NatWest Twenty20 and one-day series with New Zealand after admitting to suffering sleepless nights during his recent poor run.

Collingwood has gone 12 Tests since his last hundred and had a disappointing time in the recent three-game series with the Kiwis.

But the Durham all-rounder hopes the switch to a shorter format of the game - beginning with tonight’s Twenty20 meeting at Old Trafford - will signal an upturn in fortunes.

Collingwood said: “The one-dayers have come at the right time, without a doubt. I’ve been struggling with the bat and it is nice to get a different form of the game, free your arms and try to go out there with a bit of freedom and hit the ball again.

“I was putting too much pressure on myself. Whatever the reasons, I wasn’t hitting the ball the way I wanted to. Hopefully with this form of the game, with the white ball, I can go out there and express myself a bit more.

“You do lose sleep and are anxious when things aren’t going right. You are playing the sport professionally. This is our job. When you are not doing a job in a team, of course you get anxious.

“Everyone who has played sport at a professional level will understand what you are going through.

“When you are going through a period like this, you think you are the only person who has ever been through it but everyone has been through a bad run of form,

“It is trying to get out of that and staying away from it for as long as possible.”

Collingwood admitted: “If you could put your finger on why things aren’t happening for you, you would reverse the whole situation as quickly as it came.

“My technique has not changed a hell of a lot since I started playing international cricket to be honest.

“It is not as if my technique has gone rubbish overnight. It is just one of those form things every single sportsman has been through. It is just about getting out the other end.”

New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori will attempt to exploit Collingwood’s current run of poor form, although he did pick up five wickets for Durham in a Twenty20 game with Derbyshire on Wednesday.

He said: “It (putting Collingwood under pressure) is not something we’ve talked about and in this form of the game Paul, batting at number four or five, has almost got a licence to play his natural game.

“You lose that bit of inhibition that you have in a Test match when you’re trying to eke your way to a score and Paul can just come out and play.

“In some ways it’s probably the perfect opportunity to try and get some form back - but there’s an opportunity for us to try and attack him because he hasn’t quite got the runs on the board.”