England play with a straight face

Paul Collingwood insisted yesterday the tourists were concentrating only on their own preparations to face Western Australia in their first warm-up match - due to start in the early hours of this morning - rather than the fall-out from another hapless defeat for Australia.

Australia appeared certainties to end their losing run yesterday when they had Sri Lanka 107 for eight in the first one-day international in Melbourne. Instead, on the back of a world-record ninth-wicket stand, Angelo Mathews somehow helped Sri Lanka scramble home to go 1-0 up with two to play.

Collingwood was trying his best to resist the temptation to make capital not only from Australia's poor results, but press reports of disagreement and factions in the home camp. "Most of us watched the game, but we're very much focused on what we've got to do rather than the opposition," he said.

He had to acknowledge, though, that Australia's apparent difficulties are hardly bad news for England. "Obviously it's a different team to the Test team. But let's be honest, the more games they lose the better it is for us. The more games they do lose, confidence levels may go down.

"But we're not going to read too much into it. We've got to prepare ourselves as a team to be in the best frame of mind going into the Test matches. I'm sure they'll be trying to do that themselves. We're not going to take them lightly."

The danger, Collingwood believes, would come if England allowed themselves to be distracted. "It would be silly to let the foot off the gas because of the opposition going through," he said.

England find themselves in an unusual situation after arriving in Australia, answering questions not about any shortcomings of their own but about the hosts' spot of bother.

"It's a different position - something we're not used to when we come to Australia," Collingwood agreed. "But we know they're a good side, and we're going to have to play very well to beat them."

Collingwood himself has one or two doubters to silence, after his batting form tailed off towards the end of last season.

He points out, though, that he can hardly be in bad form - having had so few innings in a summer which began with England winning the ICC World Twenty20 under his captaincy in the Caribbean. "I've had seven first-class innings since April," he said. "So anyone who says it's a bad trot I'm going through, I'm not going to read too much into it.

"The challenges you get out here are exactly what I want as a cricketer, and something I'm very excited to get my teeth into.I look forward to playing what I hope will be some big, match-winning innings."

Before he or anyone else does that in the Test series, England will need some significant contributions in the first of three first-class fixtures - a three-day match starting at the WACA this morning. They had a fully-fit squad to choose from, with Ian Bell set to replace Eoin Morgan in the only change to the team which beat Pakistan by an innings at Lord's in August. England, from captain Andrew Strauss down, have publicly pronounced their intention to win at every turn and therefore arrive with supreme confidence for the first Test in Brisbane on 25 November. Collingwood has read the same script, and cites England's self-belief as a potent factor. "If we can get three wins under our belts that will be fantastic. Belief is the most important thing, coming to Australia."