Despite retiring from Test cricket, Paul Collingwood has admitted he still holds hopes of returning to the England ODI and Twenty20 international sides.

The former ODI captain is currently in South Africa preparing to play in the domestic Twenty20 competition and hopes a good performance can impress the England selectors.

"Even though I'm 35, I still have ambitions to play for England and if I can produce six to eight months of good cricket then I might get back in the team. Playing here in South Africa is a big stage for me," Collingwood told Reuters.

"I still have a three-year contract with Durham and my ambitions are still with England. Playing for your country is the ultimate and it's important that we get that through to the next generation - Test cricket is the big stage, not trotting around on the T20 circuit."

The all-rounder added that he believes England's troubles on their tour of the United Arab Emirates has come as a result of an extended Christmas holiday.

The touring English succumbed to an embarrassing 3-0 defeat in the Test series and the former Test stalwart claims the team were underprepared.

"The defeats came out of the blue in many ways and in trying to see, from the outside, what they have done differently, the only thing I can think of is that it was probably the team's longest ever break heading into the series," Collingwood said.

"Normally we'd only get three or four weeks off at the end of our summer and we didn't spend many Christmases at home.

"But this time there was a three-month break which meant they went into the series a bit cold. Especially in the first test, which did the damage because they didn't play spin very well, which meant their confidence levels were down and they never recovered."

The 35-year-old, however, still has high hopes for the England team and is confident they can turn things around on their tour as they take on Pakistan in four ODIs.

"The good thing about this England team is that there's a really good culture in the dressing-room engendered by Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss. They obviously won't be happy with the performance, but there won't be any panic stations," he added.

"They're still a very good cricket team, they just didn't adapt quickly enough to the conditions. I expect them to turn things around in the one-dayers."