Man-of-the-Match Paul Collingwood is hoping to have clinched his place in England's World Cup squad after his maiden one-day international century carried England to their second successive win over Sri Lanka.

The Durham all-rounder rescued England from the perilous position of 122 for six to ensure a total of 258, which proved more than enough for victory.

"It's been a good day," Collingwood said afterwards. "I came in at a difficult situation and managed to get ones and twos and (Craig) White played a great innings as well.

"We just knew we had to bat the overs out and we were trying to get out to 46 to 47 overs and then a slog, but we were pleased because we managed to get three, four, five an over throughout that period," he told Sky Sports.

Asked whether he believed his World Cup place for February and March is secure, Collingwood replied: "Let's hope so. Obviously I got dropped for the first two games and that was disappointing, but I went in the nets and thankfully it's gone well since then."

Meanwhile Nasser Hussain described Collingwood's performance as "exceptional", and believes England can take heart from another win ahead of the fourth Test, which starts in Melbourne on Boxing Day.

"Two wins in a row lifts spirits," said the England captain. "We knew we could beat Sri Lanka. We've worked hard and we knew if we played to our best we had a good chance, especially on the two wickets we've played on.

"We're not kidding ourselves because we've got a lot of work to do but it's better to win than to lose. We need to win - this isn't a tournament any more, we need to win every game after the winter we've had."

Hussain was delighted with Collingwood's hundred, which followed his crucial 110-run partnership with Craig White.

"We discussed it when I was batting with him that it just needed one partnership and we were back on track and, unfortunately, I let him down and a couple of others were not able to stay with him," explained Hussain.

"We got to last chance saloon with our last recognised batsman in Craig White but luckily the two of them batted very sensibly and took the runs that were on offer - he's a talented lad and I'm pleased for him."

Hussain, who had some sharp words for his side after two dropped catches during the Sri Lankan innings, also drew encouragement from further impressive bowling displays from youngsters James Anderson and Steve Harmison.

"They've got things that you need at this level. For example Anderson's slower ball gives us something that we haven't had before, as well as Harmison's pace and bounce.

"But I wouldn't get too excited. After taking such a drubbing in the tour every game against Sri Lanka has become like a semi-final, and I just think I needed to let them know that we need to play well all the time and take our chances. It's nicer to go into the Christmas period with two wins under our belts."

Sri Lanka's captain skipper Sanath Jayasuriya pointed to dropped catches as the key reason for his team's defeat.

"I think we bowled well but the fielding was not up to the standard. We dropped so many catches and you can't afford to do that. We dropped their important batters and paid the price.

I think 260 was still gettable but we lost a wicket early on again. When we were here before in 1998 we won a few matches but we need to be more positive."

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