LONDON, April 26: England one-day all-rounder Paul Collingwood is set to be out of action for two months after dislocating a shoulder.

The Durham medium-pace bowler and middle-order batsman injured his left shoulder when diving to field the ball during a one-day friendly against Lancashire at Old Trafford last week.

It had been thought that Collingwood, 26, would be out for six weeks but joint damage has been diagnosed and this will require keyhole surgery.

That means time is against Collingwood if he wants to be fit for England’s three-match one-day series against Pakistan in June and the triangular series involving Zimbabwe and South Africa which follows.

Collingwood established himself as a regular member of England’s one-day side during the Ashes tour of Australia and at the World Cup earlier this year after making his debut in 2001.

He has yet to play Test cricket but in 38 One-day Internationals Collingwood has scored 874 runs, including a century against Sri Lanka, and taken 16 wickets.