The adventure is over for Collingwood and co.

By Neal Collins

It was on the 16th green of Humewood golf course in Port Elizabeth that Nasser Hussain's Winter of Discontent finally reached its bitter end.

After our bitter trip home on Thursday, England's top World Cup batsman Paul Collingwood told me: “It was a horrible moment. Steve Harmison called from the team hotel and told us they'd called the game off in Bulawayo. We were out of the World Cup.

“Nasser went very quiet. Two hours later we were watching television in the hotel... and we realised he was resigning.”

For Collingwood and golf partner Naz, last Tuesday was definitely a day to forget.

Collingwood reveals in the Sunday People: “We got up in the morning at the Holiday Inn in Port Elizabeth and flicked on the telly... and we saw the covers were on. We knew if it was rained off, it was the end of our World Cup.

“It was just too much, sitting there waiting and worrying.

“We couldn't bear to watch so we thought we'd play golf instead, Nasser, Ashley Giles, Michael Vaughan and me. It was the only way we could get through the day.

“Nasser and I were golf partners all the way through the tour. And we must have played Gilo and Vaughan 10 times – they'd never got close.

“But this time, we get to the 16th and we lost it. Couldn't believe it. Then Harmy calls. He's been texting us the scores all the way through. Now he tells us the news.

“Talk about five minutes from hell. We were all gutted. Devastated. We went back to the hotel and we didn't know what to do. Duncan Fletcher said it only rained two days a year in Bulawayo. And of course this had to be one of them.

“Then we saw Naz quitting on the box... and it began to sink in.

“If he decided to quit during the round, he didn't tell us! But before the tournament, during the whole Zimbabwe thing, he'd talked about giving up.”

Collingwood knows Hussain's departure is a serious blow for England. He insists: “Nasser's a superb captain. I've said all along there aren't many who could have put up with all the things he has over the last few weeks.

“It's been a long winter. To go straight into the World Cup after a tour like the Ashes is tough. It must be really hard for a captain to keep going under that sort of pressure.

“We all backed him up in his decision. He's been fantastic for me. He's very strong mentally. One of the world's best.

“He's very determined. Ambitious. You really want to play for a captain like that. It rubs off. You work hard, he does have his times when he kicks stuff and things like that.

“But it's only because he wants to do well. It was a great combination Nas and Duncan Fletcher. He will be very hard to replace.”

Collingwood knows it could have been very different – if England had just winkled out Andy Bichel in Port Elizabeth last Sunday. But the dogged Collie accepts responsibility for the defeat too. He had just hit Brad Hogg's first delivery for a huge six behind square when he got himself out to Man of the Match Bichel, uncharacteristically slashing at a wide one and getting a nick to Adam Gilchrist.

Collingwood admits: “I got very pumped up against Australia. I don't usually get emotional like that. I wanted to get at them.

“That's why I got a little bit ahead of myself. Normally I would have been nice and relaxed and played it off the back foot.

“It was great hitting Hogg for six. But the secret is they had three men behind square leg when I hit it. I noticed Brett Lee was behind square, I checked right to the last second, so I thought it was a free hit.

“As soon as I nailed it I went running to square leg to argue with the umpire!

“The next over Lee admitted it... it should have been a no ball.”

Collingwood's dismissal for 10 may well have been the difference between victory and defeat in a titanic struggle between the two traditional rivals which went down to the penultimate ball.

But Collingwood, who topped England's World Cup batting averages with 137 runs at 45.7, says: “I reckon we're the only side who have competed with Australia over the last few month. We certainly gave them a fright.”

But instead of a magnificent win over the world's best side and a path into the Super Six stages, Collingwood had to accept the early trip home on flight SA266 to Heathrow on Thursday morning.

He told me from his Durham home on Saturday: “I'm sitting here and you're telling me the scores but I can't bear to watch the cricket now. I can't.

“I'm trying to keep myself occupied, catching up with the girlfriend Vicky and my parents Janet and David.

“Nets have already started. The Durham lads have been working hard. But Martyn Moxon, our coach, has told me to recuperate. It's been a long winter.

“Overall, I'll look back on the World Cup as a disappointment. I thought we had a good enough side to go all he way to the final.

“We certanly believed in ourselves. I think when I look back on the whole thing, I'd have to say it wasn't meant to be for us.

“We knew losing the four points against Zimbabwe and then playing Australia would be hard – but we honestly believed in ourselves right from the start.

“The great win against Pakistan at Newlands a fortnight ago boosted our confidence. We realised how good a side we actually were.

“But then everything seemed to go against us. The wicket in Durban with India winning the toss, then we could have beaten Australia... then came the rain in Bulawayo.

“On a personal level it's been a great experience, the World Cup gives you that edge. It was different, huge.

“Even the pressure of playing Namibia and Holland was quite something. It will help me for the future.

“But there's no way we can be chuffed with how things have gone. We have to be disappointed to go out before sides like Kenya.

“Hopefully, I've got a few World Cups in me yet. Four years is a long time and we want to keep improving as a unit. That's the important thing now.

“We were not that far away from being a top side at this World Cup. that's the annoying thing.

“We might just be the only side capable of giving Australia a run for their money. And we're already home!”