Collingwood looks to future

Paul Collingwood knows what it is like to play intense cricket for England © Getty Images

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Paul Collingwood is refusing to dwell on the past as England’s exciting one-day side attempt to build towards a bright future.

England’s one-day captain is one of only two survivors - James Anderson is the other - who were humbled by Sri Lanka on their last visit to the Dambulla National Stadium, which is the stage for the start of the five-match one-day series.

On that occasion four years ago England were dismissed for a lowly 88 with Collingwood top-scoring with 31 and Sri Lanka cruised to a 10-wicket victory in only 13.5 overs - one of the heaviest defeats in England’s one-day history.

But rather than reflect on the lessons of their previous visit to Dambulla, Collingwood believes it is important to look ahead and try and guide his developing side to success.

“When I have memories like that I usually blank them out,” he admitted. “I don’t remember too much about it other than it turned quite a bit and they knocked the runs off pretty quickly.

“I don’t like looking back and looking at what we did wrong then. This is the future, the players we’ve got in that dressing room and there’s no point looking back, we need to look forward.”

With that in mind Collingwood has addressed his young squad about the difficulties in playing intense one-day cricket, which was a characteristic of their superb NatWest Series win over India a few weeks ago, in one of the hottest and unforgiving climates in world cricket.

Collingwood has spoken about the difficulties of playing in the hot sub-continent conditions

Two tours ago Graeme Hick, then one of the fittest players in England’s squad, was forced into asking for a runner such was the intense heat during another heavy defeat in Colombo.

“Sometimes the heat can be so much that when you get to 20 or 30 it can be give it up time,” he conceded. “That’s something we’ve discussed and that’s something that has certainly happened in the past and hopefully it won’t happen on this trip

“We want to keep the same kind of principles we used throughout that series (against India) - the intent with the ball, being aggressive and when you come to these places you also need your changes of pace.

“We need the same thing when we’re fielding, getting that buzz. The good thing about this place is it’s not too hot and hopefully it will be like this for the match so we can keep that same kind of intensity when we’re running between the wickets and in the field.”

Collingwood and his side are also going to have to contend with changes to the playing regulations which will be used from the start of the series.

Monty Panesar is expected to be England's only spin option

Free-hits, popular during the ICC World Twenty20 tournament, are to be introduced for front foot no-balls, an extra fielder will be allowed outside the inner circle during powerplays and there will be a mandatory ball change after 35 overs of each innings.

Having only just recovered from the demands of captaining in Twenty20 international cricket, Collingwood remains unsure about the impact of the new regulations but believes it may help introduce spinners into the attack at an earlier point of the innings.

“It’s hard to say at the moment what the impact they’ll have but it gives the captains a few more options which in turn gives you a few more headaches and tactics,” he said.

“With a third person outside the ring, it may help to bowl the spinners during that period. The free hit will also be exciting for the spectators and you may see the bowlers dragging their foot back a bit.”

England’s only spin option is expected to be Monty Panesar with Stuart Broad, Ryan Sidebottom and Anderson making up a three-strong seam attack with back-up from Collingwood and Ravi Bopara.