Paul Collingwood chose a timely occasion to make his maiden Test half-century - because without him England would almost certainly have blown all chance of salvaging their three-match series against Pakistan.

The Durham batsman, one of three Riverside men in the England team, alongside Steve Harmison and Liam Plunkett, made an unbeaten 71 out of a stumps total of 248 for six, on day one of the final match in Lahore.

It brought him relief and satisfaction in equal measure following an unproductive start to his Test career and was just as important for England, as they ran the risk of squandering the advantage of winning an important toss, despite a century opening stand between Michael Vaughan (58) and Marcus Trescothick (50).

Poor execution of the sweep proved the downfall of four top-order batsmen, and it was perhaps more than coincidence that Collingwood was the one player who did not seek to use the shot as a default option against the slow bowling of Shoaib Malik and Danish Kaneria.

His modest explanation was that he has not mastered what is regarded as England coach Duncan Fletcher's trademark batting tactic - particularly in subcontinental conditions - and therefore he does not play it very often.

Yet on this evidence, Collingwood ought not to be alone when it comes to treading carefully with the sweep.

Ian Bell and Geraint Jones produced two flawed examples of the shot, while Vaughan and Trescothick also lost their wickets trying variations of the same stroke.

Collingwood's innings was a triumph of determination, and it was little wonder he took few chances as he set out to prove his worth after failing twice in the first Test at Multan.

''It is a lot of satisfaction and a lot of relief. I know it's not a hundred, it's nothing major - but it's something major for me,'' he said.

The innings realised almost twice as many runs as his previous best - 36 - on his fifth Test appearance.

''It gives me the confidence to realise I can actually do it at Test level,'' he said.

''I was disappointed not to take the opportunity in the first Test. I had two innings to score runs - and I didn't do it - so I really wanted to make sure I got some here.

''You start doubting yourself a little bit when you've had eight innings and a top score of 36. You think 'can I make it at this level?'.

''I've got a lot to prove to a lot of people. But I bat number three for Durham and I got six hundreds last year, so I always see myself as a frontline batsman and I want to get a spot in the Test side as a batsman, not a bits-and-pieces all-rounder.''

How England needed the 29-year-old's best effort so far on a day when others either failed to make a start or got out when set.

It was Malik - one of two Pakistan bowlers booked in for remedial work on his action after being reported for a suspect method at Multan - who inflicted the first serious damage as he took three wickets for eight runs in 17 balls.

England were then indebted to Collingwood and Kevin Pietersen, who had to start again without a run between them but shared a fourth-wicket stand of 68 to keep the tourists in reasonable shape at tea, before two more wickets in the evening session made Pakistan the happier team.

Vaughan opened the innings for the first time in more than 18 months, in place of the absent Andrew Strauss, and helped Trescothick come through a testing first hour against new-ball pair Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Shoaib Akhtar.

But the captain fell soon after lunch when a sweep at Malik went straight to Mohammad Yousuf for a head-high catch at square leg.

Bell went cheaply to the same combination, lobbing a dolly up to short fine-leg - and then Trescothick completed the unwanted hat-trick of sweep-shot dismissals in unlucky fashion, bottom-edging on to his boot to be caught by wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal.

Collingwood soon got on top of Malik, starting with twin cover-drives in an over which yielded three boundaries.

It was plain sailing from then until what became the last ball before tea, from which Pietersen was well caught down the leg side by Akmal as he made too thin a contact on an attempted deflection for runs off Rana.

England also lost Andrew Flintoff to the bowling of Rana, whose extra bounce brought a faulty hook shot from the all-rounder to have him caught by Shoaib diving in from long-leg.

Collingwood was not about to give it away, though, and became the third batsman to reach a half-century when he edged Rana through the slips for his eighth four from the 83rd ball he faced.

He seemed fortunate on 54 to be given not out after an apparent inside edge behind off Shoaib, but there was no room for doubt when Jones made it four batsmen to go sweeping haplessly as he was bowled by Kaneria.

Collingwood was hardly about to criticise his team-mates over their mis-sweeps.

''It's been a very successful shot for us over the last few years. We lost a few wickets with it today, but generally we score a lot of runs with that shot,'' he noted.

''We talk to all our batsmen who have had experience of the subcontinent, and they'll tell you it is a shot you have to have in your armoury here.

''I'm not very good at it. Sometimes I'll play it if the ball is really turning - but generally I prefer to play with a bit straighter bat. That's just my own preference.'