PAUL Collingwood yesterday admitted the temporary nature of the job persuaded him to resume the captaincy of England’s Twenty20 team.

Collingwood, 32, will be in charge of his country in next month’s World Twenty20 tournament having only quit as limited-overs leader last August, on the same day that Michael Vaughan relinquished his position as Test captain.

He did so to safeguard his position as a batsman in all forms of the game after losing form, particularly in Test cricket.

But a resurgence with the bat since then and a personal request from new coach Andy Flower to resume control persuaded a rethink – only a matter of a couple of months ago, in the wake of Kevin Pietersen stepping down, Collingwood distanced himself from the role.

‘‘At the time I said I would take a lot of persuading to do the job again,’’ Collingwood explained.

‘‘That was captaining full time. This is an opportunity where I will be captaining for three weeks in a World Cup and that kind of opportunity doesn’t come around every day.

‘‘A lot of things have happened since then – Andy Flower has been given the job permanently and I am excited by the opportunity to work with him.

‘‘I thought long and hard about it and the last thing I wanted it to do was affect other parts of my game, such as Test cricket – I don’t think it will do so given it’s just a three-week period.’’ His previous tenure was not without controversy either – he was at the centre of England’s failure to retract an appeal for a run-out when New Zealander Grant Elliott was floored in a mid-pitch collision and also banned for his team’s slow over rate.

But Flower approached him during his time with Delhi in the Indian Premier League to enquire about his availability, and he subsequently had an input into the squad composition.

‘‘It was evident that he wanted me to do the job,’’ said Collingwood.

‘‘When someone backs you as much as he did it gives you confidence and I think we can work very well together.

‘‘He’s done superbly well since he came in in difficult circumstances in the West Indies.

England squad: Paul Collingwood (capt), James Anderson, Ravi Bopara, Stuart Broad, Andrew Flintoff, James Foster, Robert Key, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Eoin Morgan, Graham Napier, Kevin Pietersen, Owais Shah, Ryan Sidebottom, Graeme Swann, Luke Wright.