Collingwood adds gloss to gritty victory

Paul Collingwood produced a bullish 46 from 51 balls under the lights at the Wanderers to give England the impetus toward chasing down a testing target of 213.

Collingwood missed three matches of England's disastrous home series against Australia after pleading exhaustion, and the break appeared to have worked wonders as he produced the most authoritative innings of an arduous day for batsmen on both sides. Locating the timing that he had mislaid at the start of the summer, he hoisted England from a dicey 19 for 2 with an innings that included three sixes over midwicket, the first of which was a sweet clip in an over from Nuwan Kulasekara that leaked two further flicked fours through the leg-side.

He had come to the crease with England in something of a predictable crisis and swung the match back England's way. Lasith Malinga bowled him via an inside-edge in the 20th over to revive Sri Lanka's hopes, but Collingwood's efforts had lifted England too far.

Earlier in the day Collingwood played a role too, taking a sharp catch in the gully and following up with an eight-over spell of accurate cutters that didn't realise any wickets, but conceded just 24 runs in the process.