The one charm of the past, Oscar Wilde said, is that it is the past. Paul Collingwood may not be a man for drama, but he has learnt something about crisis in the nine weeks since his previous one-day appearance for England. If he would settle secretly for a quiet supporting 30 and a few wicketless overs to ease his way back at Trent Bridge in the second NatWest Series international against South Africa this afternoon, nobody should accuse him of lacking ambition.

After the most challenging passage of his career, Collingwood is once more at ease with himself. Off the pitch, he jokes about Sunderland's push for a Champions League place, although as a true supporter he may just be serious.

In the middle, he showed in a one-day innings for Durham away to Worcestershire on Sunday that his most recognisable skills - the changes of pace with the ball and clips through mid-wicket with the bat - are back in full working order.

Things were very different at the start of the month, when he walked to the wicket at Edgbaston for what seemed likely to be his final Test-match innings - he made 135 - with Andrew Flintoff fit and waiting in the wings. As if that was not enough to clutter his mind, Collingwood was also considering his position as the one-day captain. The strong character that helped him through is one good reason why Kevin Pietersen, his successor, is happy to have him back.

“I feel a hell of a lot better than I did,” Collingwood said. “It is amazing how quickly you can turn things around. Mentally, I think it was the worst stage of my career, probably more so than Australia in 2006-07. It does wear you down when you go out thinking that every ball is going to get you out. And then you think, 'Bugger it, I'm going to go out there at the bowler instead of the other way round.'”

Collingwood is not exactly happy to talk about his tribulations, but nor is he in denial. Nothing prepared him for the backlash that followed his decision not to reinstate Grant Elliott after the infamous collision with Ryan Sidebottom at the Brit Oval in June that so angered New Zealand that the visiting team refused initially to shake hands after the game. The four-match ban, now served, was imposed for a slow over-rate.

“Even though I apologised, there were still people questioning me,” Collingwood said. “That hurt quite a lot. Those things do not go away. All my life I wanted to play cricket for England and it was getting to the point where I was going to lose my Test place and something had to give.

“It was taking my Test form away. I never had massive ambitions for the one-day captaincy, but I thought it was a great time to take on a new challenge.”

Had Collingwood not tendered his resignation after South Africa took an unassailable 2-0 lead at Edgbaston, his defiant hundred might have made him a plausible candidate for the Test captaincy as a bridge between the formats once Michael Vaughan decided to step down. “I told my missus the night before that I was going and there was no way back after that,” Collingwood said.

That call to Vicky, his wife, was barely part of the consideration. Like Vaughan, his best mate in the England side, he felt a burden lifted with the decision. “This sounds horrible,” Collingwood said, “but the timing worked out wonderfully for me because I didn't have to front up on the Sunday. After we lost, Vaughany came up to me and said, 'I'm off', and I said, 'S*** - that's both of us then.' I swear, it was 100 per cent coincidence.

“I asked him whether I should wait on, but it may have been best to go together to let one captain come in. I did feel for Vaughany. I knew what he was going through, I felt the same way. We speak and text and he will be back; he is a great player. And I am looking forward to being a foot soldier again. I can still be a leader for Kevin even though I'm not the captain.”