Uphill battle: Collingwood

 
“It seems to me that the public of England are just interested in the Ashes and everything else doesn’t matter too much,” 33-year-old Collingwood said.

England gave birth to modern professional limited overs cricket back in the 1960s and pioneered Twenty20, the sport’s shortest top-flight format.

Even so one-day matches have tended to be tolerated as a financial necessity by many within the English game, be they administrators, players, spectators and the media, with priority given to Test cricket, still the ‘real thing’.

England are currently 2-0 down in their seven match one-day international (ODI) series against Australia ahead of Wednesday’s Rose Bowl day-nighter.

But, with home fans still rejoicing in the team’s 2-1 Test series win over Australia, wrapped up last month at the Oval, it seems many England supporters couldn’t care less about a series widely regarded as an Ashes afterthought.

“To us, as players, this is an important stepping stone, we want to continue improving our one-day cricket,” said Collingwood.

England have never won a major ODI event and made the last of their three losing World Cup final appearances back in 1992.

Just days after their current series against Australia ends at Collingwood’s Durham home ground in Chester-le-Street, they head to South Africa for the Champions Trophy one-day tournament, one of the prestigious ICC events.