"I went through a period where I felt I was batting with a stump in my hand," the Durham all-rounder commented.

"Thankfully I got that hundred earlier in the week (against New Zealand) and it gives you a lot of confidence.

"I went out there with a positive attitude again and it's a great feeling to bring the boys home."

Collingwood finished with an unbeaten 120 as England won the first game of the best of three Commonwealth Bank Series final by four wickets.

Stands of 133 with Ian Bell and 74 with skipper Andrew Flintoff kept the team in contention and Collingwood saw it through to the end for his highest score in a limited overs international.

"I'm not the hardest hitter in the world, so I have to pick the ones and twos up and the big fields over here suit my game a little bit.

"That's the way I play. I don't want to go outside my bubble and try to play like a Freddie Flintoff or a Kevin Pietersen, I play like Paul Collingwood and hopefully that's good enough," the 30-year-old added.

England went into the game handicapped by the absence of captain Michael Vaughan, who was ruled out of the finals because of a recurrence of his hamstring problem.

But they raised to the occasion in a performance which delighted stand-in skipper Flintoff.

He hailed Collingwood's innings as the best he had seen in a one-day match by an England batsman.

"The way he knocked ball round, the stamina and mental strength, the skill and timing was something to behold.

"This side is renowned for scrapping and showing a lot of character and Paul typifies that -- he leads in that respect," said Flintoff.

He admitted the nerves had been jangling in the closing overs, adding: "I was a little bit excitable, clapping every run as you can imagine, but while Colly was out there I had every faith (we'd do it)."