FORMER England captain Paul Collingwood has promised staunch support to new leader Andrew Strauss as the Test team start a new era in the Caribbean.

Collingwood, who quit as one-day captain last August shortly after Michael Vaughan’s resignation from the Test position, has even revealed he would consider being Strauss’ official right-hand man.

England do not have a policy of appointing vice-captains but they may feel the need to do so during this trip, particularly in the limited-overs section of the 11-week tour, which includes five one-dayers and a Twenty20 contest.

‘‘Of course, I would be interested,’’ said Durham allrounder Collingwood from Shotley Bridge. ‘‘Obviously I am a senior member of the side now and my role is as big as at any time.

‘‘We haven’t got a head coach and you want to set the right example, so if that opportunity came around I would look at it and consider it again.

‘‘But I want to be able to go out and 100 per cent concentrate on my game. It is hard enough with the technique I’ve got, I guess, playing and trying to succeed without thinking of too many other things.

‘‘Straussy will need a lot of help over the next few weeks from the senior guys, and I will certainly put my hand up if that is what he wants.’’ Collingwood enters the four-match Test series against West Indies in a better frame of mind than he was in five months ago when he was clinging on to his place in the side – he has scored two hundreds in his last four appearances.

While it was a relationship breakdown which led to the termination of Kevin Pietersen’s captaincy and the sacking of coach Peter Moores, Collingwood reiterated his reason for stepping down from office was personal in a different way.

‘‘I was 100 per cent truthful with the reasons when I stood down as c a p t a i n , ’ ’ Collingwood said. ‘‘It was mentally tiring, I lost form in the Test match arena and I had always wanted to play cricket for England.

I didn’t want to lose that.

‘‘I found a year of captaincy a very difficult period of my cricketing career.

I enjoyed parts of it but it wasn’t because of the coach, or the players, I stepped down.’’ There have been differences of opinion within the England dressing room over various issues over the past few months – such as travelling back to India to play the Test series following the Mumbai terror attacks – but Collingwood is convinced onlookers will see a united unit in the coming weeks.

‘‘You can make more of a situation than it actually is and what you will discover – from our body language and hopefully from the results on the pitch – is how close we actually are as players,’’ he said.

‘‘The main rift was between Kevin and Peter Moores and once it was in the public eye there was no going back.

‘‘You obviously want to get these situations sorted inhouse, that wasn’t the case, and obviously everything escalated from there.

‘‘It was a strange period, we had got home for Christmas and were looking forward to relaxing and spending time with the family.

‘‘But everybody was talking about cricket when usually it’s football at that time of the year.

‘‘Now everybody wants to get back on the field and play cricket again.

‘‘It’s a fresh start for us. We are all in it together.

‘‘We have lost a captain and a coach and there is a lot more responsibility on our shoulders now as players to go out there and put on performances on the pitch.

‘‘When you haven’t got a head coach it is up to you to do that, and I think everyone will respond well to that.’’ Having arrived in the Caribbean on Wednesday, the first assignment was a lengthy run yesterday for the entire 16-man squad.

Nets begin today ahead of the three-day match against St Kitts & Nevis which begins on Sunday.