DURHAM'S Paul Collingwood hit his first century for England on the second day of the first Test against India.

In a superb tail-end assault from the tourists, Collingwood spent over six hours at the crease and was 134 not out when England ended on a total of 393 in Nagpur.

Collingwood dealt well with experienced spinners Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble late on and said: "The ball wasn't turning too much.

"The tail-enders did a fantastic job to help me along and once I got to the nineties I wanted to make sure of it.

"I wanted to play attacking cricket so when they brought the field in for the last few balls of each over I thought I would take them on.

"I had to play quite a gritty innings early doors because it wasn't easy to time your shots and it wasn't easy to penetrate the field.

"I just had to play to the situation and obviously it went well. To get close to 400 was a great effort by everyone."

After Matthew Hoggard removed opener Virender Sehwag, India recovered well and the hosts were 136 for one at stumps - 257 runs behind.

Collingwood said: "We got them one down. We would like to have had another two wickets but if we can get those wickets early on Friday and put them under pressure we're in with a good shout."