England captain Paul Collingwood is hoping that two months devoted to one-day cricket can finally help establish his side as a force.
New captain hoping England can use two-month spell to hone one-day skills
Watch England versus India live on Sky Sports 1 from 2pm on Tuesday
As England prepare for two solid months of one-day cricket, new limited overs captain Paul Collingwood is all-too-aware that the upcoming weeks will likely have an influence on his side's direction over the coming seasons.
With the seven-match NatWest series against India starting on Tuesday, England then switch formats for the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 tournament in South Africa, before their diet of one-day action is rounded off with a five-match series in Sri Lanka.
Ahead of next year's ICC Champions Trophy and the 2011 World Cup, such a concentrated period of limited-overs cricket should afford England selectors ample opportunity to get a handle on key members of their new-look side.
And Collingwood hopes the ensuing weeks, playing in a variety of different conditions, will also give his players the chance to hone their one-day skills and finally begin the task of establishing England as a force.
"When I took over before the West Indies series I said the approach was going to be one of the major things and when you talk about approach and intent these things get filtered in slowly," Collingwood said.
"These aren't things that happen overnight and players can all of a sudden go out there and be world-beaters.
"These skills we are learning every day in practice and they gradually get filtered into the players.
"Hopefully this two-month period is the perfect time as a one-day side to keep improving and that's what we're looking to do. We realise we have to improve as a one-day side."
Rankings
The extent of the improvement needed can be measured by the fact that, having won just two of their last eight one-day matches, England currently lie above only Bangladesh, Ireland, Zimbabwe and Kenya in the ICC's one-day rankings.
In contrast, India could move to second place in the rankings with a convincing victory in the upcoming series.
Nevertheless, Collingwood still believes that, despite both his baptism of fire as losing captain against the West Indies, not to mention England's recent Test series defeat to India, his side has the potential to buck the trend.
"If you look at the ICC rankings they are certainly up there with the best," he said of England's next opponents.
"They will go into the series as favourites but we're confident we've got the players in our side that if we click on our day that we can beat the best in the world."
Freddie back
England welcome back players such as Andrew Flintoff and Ravi Bopara, who both missed the series against the West Indies because of injury - although Ryan Sidebottom has been ruled out with a side strain.
But India have also bolstered their squad since their 1-0 Test series victory, with seamer Munaf Patel, batsman Robin Uthappa and all-rounder Ajit Agarkar all coming in.
Teams for Tuesday's opening match of the NatWest Series between England and India at the Rose Bowl:
England (from): PD Collingwood (Durham, capt), IR Bell (Warwickshire), MJ Prior (Sussex, wkt), OA Shah (Middlesex), KP Pietersen (Hampshire), A Flintoff (Lancashire), RS Bopara (Essex), SC Broad (Leicestershire), CT Tremlett (Hampshire), JM Anderson (Lancashire), MS Panesar (Northamptonshire), AN Cook (Essex), AD Mascarenhas (Hampshire).
India (from): R Dravid (capt) MS Dhoni (wkt) SR Tendulkar, SC Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, G Gambhir, RP Sharma, P Chawla, RR Powar, RV Uthappa, AB Agarkar, Z Khan, MM Patel, KD Karthik, RP Singh.
