England boosted by Collingwood 50

Paul Collingwood's unbeaten half-century helped England to a promising 184 for four by tea on day one of their second Ashes warm-up match against South Australia.

England, who lost two wickets in the first hour and then two soon after lunch after winning the toss on a sunny day, were put back in good health by an unbroken partnership of 89 between Collingwood (73 not out) and Ian Bell.

Collingwood established himself as the aggressor after England had lost Alastair Cook and then Kevin Pietersen in the space of five overs.

Cook battled through the first session at the Adelaide Oval in pursuit of the runs he urgently requires before the start of the Ashes.

But after Peter George (three for 42) had seen off Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott in his new-ball spell on a pitch of decent pace, Cook also fell to the Ashes aspirant fast bowler.

Strauss went in only the third over, via an edge down the leg-side, wicketkeeper Graham Manou taking a diving catch. Trott survived a straightforward chance to slip Daniel Harris off Ben Edmondson on 11, only to depart in embarrassingly tame fashion a single later.

New batsman Pietersen was not put off the pull by what he had just witnessed, dispatching George for four - off the front foot - from only the fourth ball he faced.

Cook failed to move his feet and flapped an edge behind only two overs after lunch.

Pietersen then threatened to dominate, with a pair of straight-driven fours and a pulled six off George. But he took the deep-square man on again off Edmondson and was well caught right on the line by Aiden Blizzard, who knocked the ball up and just kept it in to complete the dismissal.

Collingwood responded, on the ground where he made a double-hundred in defeat in the 2006/07 Ashes, by easily outpacing Bell on his way to a 50 which contained eight boundaries.