Andrew Strauss has backed Paul Collingwood to rediscover his best form during the upcoming one-day series and finally end his poor run of form in Australia.
Collingwood has managed just 105 runs in competitive action on the entire tour of Australia, with just 83 runs coming during the Ashes Test series and then scores of 16 and six in the two following Twenty20s.
Collingwood skippered the Twenty20 side in the last two matches, but Strauss returns for the seven-match ODI series, which starts in Melbourne on Sunday.
Strauss is fully behind the 34-year-old though, and believes Collingwood will show his famous fighting spirit to find some form in the one-day series.
It is an important build-up spell for the World Cup, and Collingwood knows he must start to deliver to maintain his place in the squad.
Out of touch
"He's been a bit out of touch in the Test matches, but it's a very different form of the game,"Strauss said."His record in one-day cricket over the last year has been very good.
"He brings a lot to the side apart from his batting - but his batting is crucial to us. We're expecting him to come back strong. He's a strong character and resilient bloke.
"There have been plenty of incidences in the past where he has come back with a bang. None more so than four years ago over here"
With England set to announce their World Cup squad on Wednesday it would be a major surprise if Collingwood's name was not amongst the 15, but more failures during the series could see the 189-game veteran lose out.
Competition for places in England's batting line-up is fierce at the moment with Kevin Pietersen looking to get back into the team after being dropped for the Pakistan series in the summer, while Ian Bell has strengthened his claims and Jonathan Trott can also make similar claims.
Competition
"There's a lot of competition for places,"Strauss added."Kevin Pietersen's back in the squad and we all know what he can bring to the one-day team.
"Someone's got to miss out out of the batsmen. It will be a tough call but I think that's a good position to be in.
"They all bring different attributes to their game - you have to include Paul Collingwood in the mix as well - and we have to decide what's the best use of those attributes in Australia and at the World Cup as well."
Despite the pressure on his shoulders Collingwood vowed to turn his fortunes around to ensure his place in England's first World Cup game against Holland on February 22.
"I'm obviously disappointed with my form,"he said."I can't get away from the fact that I haven't scored many runs in Australia so far.
"But things go around in cycles in terms of form whether it be on a personal note or a team note. I know I'll come good again. It just takes that one score to come around and hopefully go back up on that cycle."
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