Collingwood refreshed to revive career

Paul Collingwood breezed from table to table during England's open media session in Dhaka. He wore a permanent smile and certainly didn't look like a man with major issues on his shoulders. Becoming a father for the third time after the birth of Hannah-Mae a few days before the team departed for Bangladesh has allowed Collingwood to arrive in fine spirits despite the continued issues over his one-day place.

After a poor Ashes series he decided to retire from Test cricket but then lost his 50-over place as well. Then a back injury forced him home from Australia a few days earlier, but it worked in his favour and allow him extra time with the family. Now Collingwood wants to start the next, and possibly final, stage of his international career at the World Cup.

"There is no added pressure," he said. "I just have to focus on the white ball now and I want to take my game in one-dayers and Twenty20 to the next level. I would like to draw a line under whatever has happened in the last few months. It is not the twilight of my career and I've had four bad patches in the last decade. Some would say it's a lot and some would say it wasn't too many."

However, Collingwood has had a poor time of late. Firstly, England's successful Ashes campaign wasn't very successful on a personal level and his limited-overs form also deserted him as he made 53 runs in four matches against Australia. His back problems may prevent him making an immediate return in the warm-up games but he is confident of returning to form as he has done in the past.

"I didn't have a tour I wanted in Australia from a personal point of view but it has happened before and I have bounced back. I took consecutive man-of-the-match awards [at the Champions Trophy] so it can all change," he said. "I still think I can make good contributions for England and hopefully this will be the tournament where I can turn around."

And Collingwood, 34, believes the extra time away from the international game having shelved Test cricket will keep him ready for more one-day challenges. "I will get more time to be mentally refreshed. I have been playing three forms of the game since Twenty20s came about six years ago so it has been tough. I need that extra bit of time to recharge the batteries."

England prepare for the World Cup by facing Canada on February 16 at Fatullah and then take on Pakistan at the same venue two days later. Some of the other teams are experimenting by using most of their squads in the warm-up games but, following on from their attitude ahead of the Ashes, England are keen to take the games seriously. "The warm-up game will be a real fixture. We want to win the game and not take anyone lightly."

Although not the best team in the world England can't be written off in this tournament and the man who played in the 2003 and 2007 campaigns certainly believes this team is different. "It is a skilful side but difficult to say whether it's the best [among the three campaigns] or not. But we have won one-day series in the last 18 months so it will take confidence from that."

Collingwood will also take confidence from his role as Twenty20 captain, particularly after England won the World Twenty20 last year which finally gave them their first global trophy."We got that off our back," he said. "We had come close a few times but now we know that we have the skills to get over it mentally."