Paul Collingwood is looking forward to returning to Sri Lanka next month with the Test squad insisting his one-day series success will not affect the fine balance of England's split captaincy.
The Durham all-rounder was chosen to lead England's one-day side earlier this summer partly because of his close friendship with Test captain Michael Vaughan, which the selectors believed would ease the obvious tensions of having two captains leading separate sides.
But while Vaughan suffered mixed fortunes on his return from over a year on the sidelines with knee trouble - beating West Indies but losing to India last summer - Collingwood has built considerable momentum by gaining unexpected success with the one-day side.
His home series win over India was unexpected enough, but few expected England to triumph 3-2 in Sri Lanka to claim their first major series victory on the sub-continent for 20 years.
It has prompted a potential cause for conflict, particularly if Vaughan follows England's home series defeat by India by also losing in Sri Lanka during the three-Test series in December.
Collingwood, though, is just looking forward to a return to the ranks and insisted his recent success has not sharpened his appetite to also replace Vaughan as Test captain.
"Of course I'm happy to give up the captaincy," claimed Collingwood. "Right from the start we've spoken about how it's going to work and I think it's worked really well.
"In many ways it's nice to have a break. It's been a long summer and a huge learning curve for me and hopefully I'll keep improving as a captain.
"But it will also be nice just to get on with my game and try to concentrate on my number five position in the Test side, catch a few balls at slip and bowl a few deliveries."
Collingwood stressed that their friendship is such they can bounce ideas off each other when required without feeling they are invading the other's role.
He said: "He's pretty much let me get on with it. If there's things I need to ask, I'll give him a phone call and I think the main thing is I'm not trying to take his job and he obviously knows that.
"We're great friends and we're trying to take both forms of the game forward and make us better teams and we both realise that. I've not spoken to him a hell of a lot while I've been out here, but when we get back there will be areas that we discuss.
"In the past if there's something I wanted to say to him I've always gone up and said it - I'm sure now I'm captain of the one-day side that I won't feel not able to say something."
Collingwood may not even be the first person Vaughan consults during the Test series with other experienced players like Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Strauss potentially to call upon depending on the make-up of the squad announced on Friday.
England traditionally do not name an official vice-captain and only usually make the decision when the situation dictates and Collingwood is expecting a similar formula for this tour.
"If he (Vaughan) goes down we'll have to wait and see," he said. "The management will have to make a decision on that and there are obviously experienced players in the Test squad and that's a decision that will have to be made if that happens."
Vaughan can at least take inspiration in the way Collingwood and the one-day side have adapted so superbly to the absence of key all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, who is now recovering from his fourth left ankle operation in two and a half years.
Collingwood, like Vaughan, is hopeful of having England's talisman back at some stage in the future and stressed: "He's still got so much to offer. He's done so much for English cricket in the past few years, he's great to have in the side and he's still an important player for us."
But he is also delighted at how his young side coped with his absence, adding: "What's been great on this trip is finding out just how far you can go when you play as a team.
"We're not the most balanced bunch of players ever to come out to Sri Lanka, but what we've done is really collectively play as a team and made it difficult for the opposition.
"We saw that last night with the rugby. They haven't had the best of runs going into a World Cup, but it's amazing how far you can go if you really do believe and work as a team."
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