Paul Collingwood: 'I'm not going to say it's all hunky-dory, of course it dents confidence. We can't just paint over the cracks, but I'm very confident we can bounce back.' © Getty Images

As any good psychologist will tell you, the first part of solving a problem is admitting you have one in the first place. Paul Collingwood, who has dug England out of plenty of holes in his career, concedes that the team face a huge challenge in responding to their defeat in the first Test - though he insists England will bounce back.

As the days since the collapse for 51 have passed, the significance of the defeat has steadily grown on the England squad. In the immediate aftermath Andrew Strauss talked of a disconsolate dressing room. Then Andy Flower said they would reflect. Alastair Cook admitted they hadn't handled the pressure and yesterday Andrew Flintoff called for the squad to help each other out.

"It's very tough to be honest. When you go through those sorts of situations it's very hard to bounce back straight away," Collingwood said. "It affects everyone, it affects confidence and we can't hide away from the fact that it wasn't the performance we were looking for. But we know as players that we have to bounce back and put our hands up to be counted. We all realise it wasn't good enough.

"I'm not going to say it's all hunky-dory, of course it dents confidence," he added. "We can't just paint over the cracks, but I'm very confident we can bounce back."

Collingwood has British bulldog spirit in spades, as he showed with two crucial half-centuries against New Zealand in Wellington last year when England were also 1-0 down, and with his career-saving hundred against South Africa at Edgbaston. He used the New Zealand series as an example that all is not lost on this tour while re-enforcing the point that all the players care deeply about what they do.

"We always seem to bounce back well from these situations and I'd just like to say everyone is desperate to do it," he said. "I think sometimes, from the outside, people think we aren't bothered or something like that, but we are desperate to do it. Maybe we are too desperate and we need to relax ourselves and that's what we've spoken about.

"It's our jobs in the end," he added. "You want to go out there and score big runs for England and win games. Of course it dents confidence to be bowled out like that but you have to try and forget about it. It's amazing how quickly things can turn it around."

The players who have spoken since the defeat have all been honest in their assessments - there is no doubting that - it is just that England have failed to perform consistently (and at times, even respectably) since the 2005 Ashes. Collingwood admitted that a lack of recent success played a role in the Jamaica defeat.

"We play as a team, but what let us down last week was the pressure situation. As individuals we have to stand up and get through those pressure situations. That's something we didn't do in the last game and there have been signs of in the last year or so. It's not something that has happened overnight.

"Our performances over the last year haven't been as good as we would have liked and it's when we hit these pressure situations that we haven't been good enough. It's what happens in the middle, not what happens in practice, and next time we nail it in that situation it will build confidence."

As the saying goes, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and after his career was in the balance last summer - one failure away from being seriously curtailed - Collingwood knows what it is like to fight back from the brink.

"When you win from a situation like that it almost makes it all worthwhile. You have to go through real lows to hit the highs and sometimes these situations bring the best out of teams. Hopefully this is a wake-up call for all of us to start winning again."

England's plans, though, haven't been helped by having to train for two days at the Recreation Ground instead of the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium because the outfield wasn't ready. Heavy showers meant officials couldn't get a good look at the ground on Wednesday, but Collingwood said the players just have to get on with it.

"We've had a bit of rain and there are a few damp patches around so it wasn't ideal, but we had a good session yesterday. They [the nets] are probably a bit bouncier than the wicket will be on Friday," he said. "It's always nice to bed yourself in, but we'll have to do that tomorrow and you just have to get on with it."