Collingwood focusing on England

Paul Collingwood
12 April 2012

Paul Collingwood has too much on his mind trying to help England through to the quarter-finals of the World Cup to worry about how long his own international career may continue.

The 34-year-old is only three matches away from becoming the first Englishman to play in 200 one-day internationals. But for him, the only one that counts is England's next fixture - their final Group B match against West Indies, which they almost certainly need to win to avoid another early World Cup exit.

Collingwood said: "I've had a few chances at a World Cup; some only get one," he said. "Yes, a World Cup win is something you'd absolutely love to have in your career. But I'm not even thinking that way. We've got too much to think about here. We've got to beat the West Indies."

England have never won this competition in nine previous attempts, stretching back 36 years, and are in danger of leaving before the knockout stages for the fourth successive time.

Andrew Strauss' men have found themselves in an awkward spot thanks to a highly eventful but equally inconsistent campaign so far, in which they have beaten South Africa and tied with tournament favourites India yet also lost to the supposed lesser lights of Ireland and Bangladesh.

For Collingwood, the whole narrative is reminiscent of last spring's ICC World Twenty20 in the Caribbean - where he led his country to their first ever International Cricket Council trophy.

"I see things developing very much how the Twenty20 did last year in the West Indies," he said. "We scraped through the group stages, but once we did we really put our performances together and went on to win it. I hope there is a good omen there."

England's problem has been marrying the skills of each of the three disciplines of batting, bowling and fielding. More often than not, one of the above has been off colour and has let them down.

"We really need to focus on getting this complete game," added Collingwood, who is no longer sure of his place as a regular after a worrying lack of batting form for much of this winter.

"If we do we will be very hard to beat for any team. We really have to look at the positives and focus on our strengths."

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