BIRMINGHAM: Paul Collingwood wants England to get back to playing intense cricket as they look to recover from the shock of losing to Bangladesh with victory over the Tigers in their one-day finale.
The all-rounder was in the England team that went down by five runs to Bangladesh in the second one-day international at Bristol on Saturday.
That result gave Bangladesh a first win over England in 21 attempts following defeats in eight Tests and 12 Twenty20s.
And it meant they levelled the three-match series at 1-1 ahead of Monday`s concluding match here at Edgbaston.
Before this contest, England beat world champions Australia 3-2 in a five-match one-day series but saw hopes of a clean sweep evaporate with convincing defeats in the final two matches.
England have now lost three out of their last four matches and while Collingwood said now was not the time for panic, he accepted England had to redouble their efforts.
"We need to get back to the same intensity as we had at the start of the Australia series," Collingwood told reporters here at Edgbaston on Sunday.
"That`s when we were putting the opposition under the most pressure and that`s when we played our best cricket.
"It`s probably more the mental stuff than the technical and it`s something we talked about in the Australia series after going 3-0 up.
"That was a position we hadn`t really been in before against Australia and we really wanted to get a ruthless streak going.
"Ruthlessness is a skill in itself and it`s something we need to keep improving on."
Reflecting on Saturday`s match, where England held Bangladesh to 236 for seven but were then bowled out for 231, Collingwood said: "We know we did not play to the standards we`ve set ourselves over the last year or so.
"Yesterday (Saturday) we were only about 80 percent of that potential."
Collingwood was captain of the England team that lost dramatically to minnows The Netherlands in last year`s World Twenty20 at Lord`s.
But this year he led England to victory in the World Twenty20 final against Australia in Barbados in May.
"When you have a result like that you can look into things a bit too much and try to find things that are not really there," Collingwood said.
"It`s not about hitting the panic button or anything like that. Obviously we don`t want to lose too many games and hopefully this is just a blip."
And Collingwood, while disappointed to have made history by being on the losing side against Bangladesh, added: "It would have been nice to go all the way through my career beating Bangladesh, and for the team to do the same, but they are an improving side.
"The record is still that we were the final (Test) side to lose to Bangladesh and there`s something positive in that.
"Thankfully we only have one day between the games and I think it`s a good thing to get straight back out on the park and put in a big performance."
BDST: 2201hrs, July 11, 2010
