Paul Collingwood will stretch his run of consecutive Test matches to 30 on Thursday, but he knows that the sequence is likely to end at some point during the summer. A third cortisone injection in his injured right shoulder will be his last and, if experience is a guide, then an operation will almost certainly follow in about two months.

He tore a muscle attempting a sharp, low catch off his own bowling during the one-day series in Sri Lanka seven months ago and discussed the option of surgery last Friday after having a scan. Given a recovery period of between three and six months he decided instead for another jab to delay what seems inevitable.

Palliative effects of two previous injections before each of the winter Test tours to Sri Lanka and New Zealand began to wear off after eight or so weeks. Nothing triggered the latest setback; the impact of the cortisone simply diminished again to suggest that, for all of Collingwood's faith and optimism, a programme to strengthen the shoulder may be of limited use.

He is determined to play against New Zealand when the three-match npower series starts at Lord's in two days' time but, if pain begins to recur along a similar time frame, then he will be struggling come the first Test against South Africa, which begins on July 10. Doctors have told him that a fourth jab is not a feasible option.

Collingwood said: “Surgery is a possibility, but I am not going to worry for the time being because I know for certain that the injection can work for the next two months at least. A lot of players in international cricket have this and can manage it. I do not know whether they field at backward point and dive around like I do, but bowling and diving are part of my package.

“If I can get into a routine of keeping it strong and managing it better then I hope I can go on. Operating is the last thing I want, a last resort. You never know how much cricket you will miss or how it will turn out. The fact is that I do not want to give away my place in the side. I cannot have an operation and expect to get back just like that.”

In the old days, England could have found a space in the schedule to allow the player to miss a minimal amount of cricket. Those gaps are no longer there and the riches on offer mean that players stand to lose enormously when they are unfit. Collingwood earned almost £500,000 in the previous central contracting year.

He joked about the possibility of missing the £10million winner-takes-all game funded by Allen Stanford in Antigua on November 1, but he would not be human if that date, though unconfirmed, was not etched in his mind. Furthermore, other players, including Michael Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff, have been through operations that failed to alleviate the particular injury.

Only in the first of Collingwood's 29 successive Tests - the third game against Pakistan in Lahore in December 2005, when Collingwood broke through by scoring 96 and 80 - have he, Flintoff and Vaughan played together in the same side. It may be that Flintoff's recovery from a side strain coincides with Collingwood's shoulder finally giving way, sparing the selectors a difficult decision.

He will enter the series with only 32 runs in five innings for Durham, but form is no problem for Ryan Sidebottom, who last night crowned a marvellous 12 months by being named the England Player of the Year by Vodafone, the team's sponsors.During this period he has taken 52 Test wickets, including 24 in this year's series in New Zealand.

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