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Collingwood happy to play through the pain
PAUL COLLINGWOOD faces the
prospect of shoulder surgery this
summer - although England's
one-day captain hopes to avert
such a course.
Collingwood, 32 in two weeks,
plays in the first npower Test
against New Zealand at Lord's
after having a third and final cortisone
injection in a torn muscle
in the right shoulder.
Having undergone jabs prior to
the Test series in Sri Lanka and
the two-month tour of New
Zealand, successful day-to-day
rehabilitation is now the only
way to avoid an operation.
The problem flared up again
for Collingwood - whose medium
pace supplements the four-man
attack - in early-season outings
with Durham.
I guess it's the stress you put
the shoulder under and we have
played a fair bit of cricket since
the time I did it in Sri Lanka.
This is the last injection I can
have in this particular area, so
hopefully I can keep it strong and
manage it from now on,'' Collingwood
said.
After the last couple of cortisones
I have had, a few days later
I have come in to bowl at 100 per
cent.
So I have got no worries about
doing that on Thursday as well.''
Cast as a one-day specialist for
the first four years of his international
career, Collingwood has
clung to his chance since deputising
for Andrew Strauss in Lahore
in December 2005.
So tightly, in fact, that he has
not missed a Test since: this week
will represent his 30th consecutive
cap.
For someone who has made
every ounce of his ability to get
to the top, his place in the side is
not something he will give up
lightly.
Of course to play the next 30
games is a massive achievement,
and hopefully now I'm a better
player than I ever have been,'' he
said. I still scrap around for runs
and I will always be that kind of
player.
But it is very hard to buy experience
and to have that number
of games under my belt, and
with the one-dayers added in, has
been a massive challenge and
something I want to continue.
The last resort really is to go
down the route of saying it is just
too sore to carry on.''
If it gets to that, Collingwood
would be sidelined for between
three and six months, meaning
he would miss a sizeable chunk
of England's commitments this
year.
With Andrew Flintoff destined
to return from injury for the Test
series against South Africa, he
might also face an uphill struggle
to return to the Test team.
I know this cortisone will
work for the next two months at
least, and hopefully I can manage
it, keep it strong and limit it to as
little pain as possible,'' said
Collingwood.
There are never any gaps, so
how do you have three to six
months off?
Until the day comes when I
think it is affecting me on the
field and affecting my performance
I am not going to worry
about it.
Surgery is the last thing I
want because you miss so much
cricket and you never know how
you're going to respond to it.''
Although Collingwood enters
the three-match npower series
with a paltry 34 runs in five innings
for Durham, he has a good
record at Lord's, where he hit a
hundred off the West Indies attack
in the corresponding fixture
12 months ago.
It would have been great to
come into the Test match with a
hundred or a few 50s under the
belt but it is a difficult time of the
year to bat,'' added Collingwood,
who was worked over by a fiery
Flintoff at Old Trafford last
week.
Fred was exceptional, I literally
couldn't lay bat on it. He was
on the max, tearing in and wanting
to get everybody out.''
Collingwood's England teammate
Kevin Pietersen, meanwhile,
has admitted England
need to raise their level of performance
if they are to compete
with the tougher challenge of
taking on South Africa.
The Hampshire player and
England's star batsman believes
the four-Test series later this
summer against his former compatriots
will be the perfect yardstick
to measure their progression.
We're going to have to (raise
our levels),'' he conceded.
If we're going to beat South
Africa, we're going to to have to
- that will undoubtedly be the
toughest series we've had for a
long time.
Apart from Australia, the series
against South Africa is going
to be a tough one because I know
how they play their cricket.
I play how South Africa play
their cricket - tough, in your face,
we'll do anything to win, we'll really
knuckle down.
It's going to be a hard series
and that's the series that we're
targeting to see where we're at
because it's a pretty important
summer next year.''
11:09am Tuesday 13th May 2008
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