 COLLINGWOOD' England one-day captain Paul Collingwood hopes to be given an immediate chance to get over the biggest disappointment of his career. Collingwood is in contention to feature in the third Test against South Africa at Edgbaston this week, having been dropped for the first time in 34 matches for the 10-wicket defeat at Headingley. The 32-year-old has endured a wretched summer, having been embroiled in New Zealander Grant Elliott's run-out controversy, banned from four limited-overs internationals and left out of the Test team on the back of just 92 runs in nine first-class innings. "It's been a very difficult season for me but hopefully it will be a season of two halves and the better half starts now," said Collingwood. "I just want this to be the spark, the catalyst, whatever word you want to choose, to get me going again. "It's been the worst year of my career but once you have got over the hurt you look at it and realise that hope is just around the corner. "I worried about what this meant for me when I was left out of Headingley and it was without doubt the biggest disappointment of my career. "The only thing that comes close to it was when I was left out of the second Test in Pakistan and I worried whether I would ever make it as a Test player." On that occasion fortune was on his side as Andrew Strauss' return home in November 2005 to witness the birth of his first child allowed him a way back in, and he took it with scores of 96 and 80 in Lahore. This week his path back into the XI may be mapped by England's willingness to revert to a four-man attack. That would mean slotting back into the number six spot and supplementing the bowling with his medium pace, an all-round role which he carried out for two-and-a-half years unbroken. "I think you could see from my face when I was told I was out what it meant to me but to be honest I'm glad I was so hurt because it proved to me that I still have the passion and want to play for England as much as ever," Collingwood said of that unhappy first morning before the second Test at Leeds. "It was hard to get my head round the fact that I wasn't in the team any more. "I hung around until lunchtime but then I had to go home and get my Durham one-day kit and get down to Uxbridge. "From there it was a question of trying to get over the emotion and move on." England have trailed to the South Africans in each of the past three home series and come back to draw or win. |