PAUL Collingwood will only gain real satisfaction from his marathon match-saving effort in Cardiff if England build on that final day of defiance and go on to regain the Ashes this summer.

Last wicket pair James Anderson and Monty Panesar earned the headlines on Sunday after surviving 40 minutes to deny Australia victory.

But it was Durham allrounder Collingwood who laid the foundations for their efforts, repelling Australia’s efforts for 343 minutes and 245 balls after England slumped to 70 for five and the brink of an innings defeat.

It was one of the great defensive performances in recent Ashes history and although Collingwood fell 11.3 overs before the close, he joined his team-mates in leaving Cardiff relieved at completing the great escape.

As an innings it is unlikely to surpass his double hundred against Australia in Adelaide for personal achievement, although England finished that match with a heartbreaking defeat, but if it helps reclaim the Ashes later this summer it could be his most satisfying knock of all.

‘‘I always say you’ve got to play to the situation and although you can take a lot from personal highlights like double centuries and hundreds, when you do something like this it’s very, very satisfying,’’ said Collingwood.

‘‘We only got a draw out of it in the end, but it means a lot to do it for the team and we can take a lot of heart out of the result in the end.

‘‘I do love these kind of situations and to be able to get out in the middle and do your bit to help, so I can take a bit of pride in what I did, but at the moment it means nothing.

‘‘We’re 0-0 in the Ashes with four to play and hopefully it will mean a bit more come the end of the series if it is an important day amongst a winning series.’’ As one of the more experienced members of England’s line-up, and one who lived through the 5-0 series whitewash down under in 2006/07, Collingwood is realistic enough to admit they must lift their level of performance considerably after being dominated by Australia for most of the first Test.

Both teams now transfer to Lord’s for the second Test on Thursday, where England have not beaten Australia since 1934, and Collingwood admitted the prospect of ending that sequence will spur them on later this week.

‘‘It makes it a really tough test for us, but in many ways we quite enjoy these challenges and the team will be looking to create history again by beating Australia there for the first time in a long long time,’’ he said.

‘‘I’m sure the lads want to put a better performance in and get the win none of us have ever seen at Lord’s over the Aussies.

‘‘We’ve got to be realistic and we know that we got away with it a little bit in Cardiff.

We were happy to get the draw, but we’ve got to regroup in the next couple of days and pick out the areas we need to improve on.

‘‘We’re moving to different conditions and different surroundings now and so we’ve got to get our heads round that and to be frank we’ve got to play a hell of a lot better.’’