Double delight for Collingwood

Paul Collingwood described claiming his double century as a "great feeling" after the Durham batsman shared a record-breaking stand with Kevin Pietersen on the second day of the second Test against Australia in Adelaide.

The 30-year-old scored 206 as he shared a 310-run stand with Pietersen as the pair set a record fourth-wicket Ashes partnership for England, overhauling the previous record of 288 by Nasser Hussain and Graham Thorpe at Edgbaston in 1997. Andrew Flintoff then took the wicket of Justin Langer as Australia closed on 28 for one.

Collingwood told Sky Sports: "Obviously, it was a great feeling. I just wish I had gone on, you can never score enough. It was just like we spoke about. I wanted to dig in there, it's not an easy wicket to score on."

Collingwood's innings lasted 392 deliveries and progress was slow at times.

"When you score a hundred you want to make it a big one. It's a difficult wicket to up the tempo," he added. "The field placings were pretty defensive, which was probably why I didn't."

Collingwood scored 96 in the first Test and resumed play just two runs short of his century in Adelaide. When asked how he had slept last night, he said: "Not very well, to be honest, especially after the last game in Brisbane.

"I felt like I was up every 20 minutes last night. It was good to be past three figures and then go on. You just have to gauge how the wicket is playing."

A confident Pietersen once again got the better of good friend Shane Warne and believes he is winning the psychological battle between the pair after Warne was forced to bowl around the wicket to try and stem the flow of runs.

"I see it as a mental victory and I do believe it is," he said.

"I've always got to be on my guard to know that one of his balls could land somewhere and knock middle or leg stump out of the ground. I expected a bit more bounce and I didn't sweep Shane last year so I've got two more shots that I'm playing now that I didn't play last year."