The all-rounder was also stripped of the Twenty20 captaincy in the process and was surprised by the decisions of the England selectors, prompting him to consider retirement from all forms of the game.

"It came right out of the blue," said the Durham all-rounder. "There had been no inkling, so when Geoff Miller came to see me to tell me what had been decided I felt it was very, very harsh.

"It took me a while to get my head around it. You look at all the options and there was a point when I had to ask myself if I wanted to carry on."

The 35-year-old retired from Test cricket last year at the end of the successful Ashes series Down Under, but continued playing in the ODI side at the 2011 World Cup.

Realistic

When he was axed after the tournament, Collingwood considered his future before deciding to focus on playing for Durham, and refuses to give up hope of playing for England again.

"I'm not bitter about what happened," he said. "I am a realistic man and accept that times move on and there comes a crossroads in everybody's career where the hierarchy are going to make decisions about you.

"I don't bear any grudge towards the management or the selectors. If you put yourself in their position you understand that they have to make calls that they consider to be in the best interests of the England team in the long term.

"But I think I need to keep it as a goal, to get back in the England side. It is a big motivational factor. There are things about being in the England side that I really, really miss and it would be silly to say I've retired.

"I realise I'm going to have to put in some miraculous performances but I still feel young, I still feel fit and I still feel I can contribute. You never know what might happen."

Standby

Having played in Australia's Big Bash and South Africa's domestic Twenty20 tournament, Collingwood was originally named to play for the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League, but has since been put on standby by the franchise who have a surplus of overseas players.

"Rajasthan called me up two or three weeks ago and said they had made four new signings, which gave them about nine or ten overseas players," added Collingwood.

"They said they would fly me out immediately if they had a couple of injuries but said rather than drag me round India for seven weeks I should stay at home and play some cricket.

"They did not want to release me from the contract but I think it highly unlikely I will be going out, the way they were talking. I told them I would like to fight for my place but they were honest enough to say I was well down the pecking order.

"It is disappointing. If you are out there you can at least be in the nets and try to make an impact."