Collingwood boosted by time out

Paul Collingwood is aiming to deliver in the third npower Test © Getty Images

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Paul Collingwood is confident a week’s respite from the pressures of international cricket can help him deliver for England in the final npower Test.

The Durham all-rounder has been under pressure to perform even though he delivered an unbeaten 24 to secure a six-wicket victory over New Zealand in the second Test at Old Trafford.

But rather than throw himself into more cricket over the last week, 32-year-old Collingwood elected not to play in Durham’s LV County Championship match against Sussex over the weekend and instead took the opportunity of a rare break from the pressures of top-level cricket.

Instead of making an appearance at Hove, Collingwood took himself out of the limelight, enjoyed a few days off and had two days of work with England batting coach Andy Flower which he believes could be the catalyst for a change in fortunes.

“There was a choice to make, but in international cricket there is never much time to work on things technically,” explained Collingwood.

“This was an opportunity after two back-to-back Test matches to go away, have a look at it from the outside rather than going straight back into cricket and seeing what I really needed.

“At the time it was decided the best thing for me was to work on my game. Andy (Flower) came up to Durham for a couple of days and we had two very good sessions and worked a bit technically but spoke about the game more than anything else - sometimes that works better than anything else.”

Collingwood has used his experience of previous difficult times, most notably two winters ago when he went 10 innings without scoring a half-century in a one-day international before returning to hit successive hundreds against New Zealand and Australia in the Commonwealth Bank series which England eventually won.

Collingwood has sought advice from batting coach Andy Flower © Getty Images

On that occasion the catalyst in his change in fortunes was simply a change of the grip on his bat handle to pink, a move he has not ruled out trying again when he walks out for the final Test at Trent Bridge which starts on Thursday.

“People say I’ve played a lot of games now and that’s what you’re trying to draw back on, what you did well during that specific time. That’s what you draw on and I’m sure I’ve got the strength to come back and score the runs again.

“The last time I came out of a run like this all I did was change my grip to pink and that was pretty much it - I might even change it this week as well to see what happens.”

But a more likely turning point in his run of form came early in his innings at Old Trafford last Monday, when he survived a strong lbw appeal from New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori when he had scored only two and went on to hit the winning runs.

Collingwood admitted: “I’ll be honest and I thought it was pretty close when it hit me on the pads and sometimes it’s those sort of things that can go 50-50 that you just need at that moment in time.

“I got 20-odd after that, which gave me a bit of confidence, and I’ve had a great week after that. I’ve worked hard, had a couple of days off as well and I feel raring to go.

“In professional sport you’re trying to get your mind into a place where you’re feeling confident and refreshed.

“I certainly think my time away has put me into a position where I’m feeling confident again.”