Collingwood advises England batsmen to stay relaxed
Collingwood believes England's batsmen will come good
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Wednesday, 19, Mar 2008 09:16
Paul Collingwood has urged his fellow England batsmen to stay relaxed ahead of the final Test against New Zealand in Napier.
None of England's top six batsmen have managed to register a century during the series yet and Collingwood acknowledges that the senior batsmen need to make more of a contribution.
However the Durham man says they must not let their desire for big runs taint their approach when they get to the crease and must stay relaxed if they are to have success.
Collingwood said: "You can put too much pressure on yourself that way. I think because of that the boys haven't made it a massive issue among themselves - they just want to go out there and play their game."
The all-rounder said that sometimes conditions dictate that a 60 on a difficult pitch can prove to be as valuable as a century made in different circumstances, insisting that winning matches was the most important thing.
He said: "We obviously realise we want to make big runs but we're trying not to make it a massive issue. As long as we win games for England, that's the important thing."
England's batsmen have found it particularly hard to score centuries during the first innings, the last coming from Collingwood in June last year, but the 31-year-old claims they have been the victims of some good bowling.
"I wouldn't put it down to a lack of desire, concentration or anything like that. I would probably put it down to there being a lot of good bowling against us, but we believe we're better players than that and we should be going out there and scoring hundreds," Collingwood concluded.
England are likely to name an unchanged side from the one that won the second Test when they begin the final Test against the Kiwis on Friday.