Paul Collingwood column

By Paul Collingwood England all-rounder

There's been some mention of me turning 30 in the media but I'm not sure I wanted to get that publicised!

It's not something you tend to tell everybody about. I just hope nobody remembers, to be honest. My birthday's on Friday, the second day of the Edgbaston Test.

But hopefully I can slide through this important match against Sri Lanka without anyone noticing.

It's still early days in my Test career, so I if turning 30 signifies anything it's really an opportunity to kick on and take my game to the next level.

We had a great win at Edgbaston in the Ashes last year... the fans really get behind us here

There's been so much said about our poor catching performance at Lord's that all the boys will be out there practising their catching in the next 48 hours.

In the past our catching routines have been excellent and I don't think we'll be doing anything special l to get things right.

It was just one of those Tests when nothing stuck. Hopefully we'll soon be back to the high standards we've set ourselves.

Sri Lanka fought back well at Lord's and you have to give them a lot of credit for that. But there wasn't much wrong with our performance - we just have to tighten up.

I've always done pretty well at Edgbaston. We had a great win here last year in the Ashes when I was part of the squad, so it's been good memories, really.

The fans really get behind the team there. It's a party atmosphere. People get dressed up and all sorts. It's a fun crowd, they do let their hair down here and I'm sure it'll be the same against Sri Lanka.

After the Ashes success last year a lot of people are talking about cricket these days.

It's going to be very hard to battle against the football this year, but we want to continue from where we left last year. We want to win and keep that momentum going.

We still haven't got Steve Harmison back in the squad but he's coming on well.

When you're facing Lasith Malinga the ball appears to come out of the umpire's stomach!

I faced him in the nets before the last Test. He was feeling pretty good and his shins weren't hurting him too much but he just needs to progress and not dive in too early.

He will understand the selectors' thinking. This year is a bit like a marathon with the amount of cricket coming up so you don't want to start off with a sprint.

There's some talk that Sri Lanka paceman Lasith Malinga might be playing at Edgbaston.

I've never faced him but they do say it takes a little bit of time to get used to him.

He has a very round-arm action so apparently when you're batting the ball appears to come out of the umpire's stomach!

I'm sure we'll have some practice in the nets simulating where the ball will be coming from, using our bowling machine Merlyn or just throwing it from that height.