Michael Vaughan has challenged his exciting young England side to overcome another major hurdle in their development by delivering their third vibrant display in a row in this summer's Ashes.

The England captain has been delighted by his team's response since their crushing opening Test defeat at Lord's, bouncing back to claim a thrilling two-run victory at Edgbaston and denied another triumph at Old Trafford.

He is calling for another superlative performance at Trent Bridge, knowing that defeat would ensure Australia retain the Ashes for the eighth successive time even if England could still draw the series with victory in the final Test at the Oval.

If England respond to Vaughan's promptings it would be their most significant achievement under his captaincy, despite having already claimed their first series win in the Caribbean for 36 years and recorded a summer whitewash last year.

''We were 1-0 down a few weeks ago and written out of this series. But we responded in a really positive manner at Edgbaston and again at Old Trafford, where I thought we were outstanding,'' said Vaughan.

''The big test is can we do it for the third game on the trot? That's the challenge for the team and that's the challenge we set ourselves.

''I'm pretty confident we can sustain the performance levels because we've been doing it not just for the last two games but for the last two years.

''It's important we keep our performance levels to that standard, because we're playing a good team - and if we continue to play at that level with that amount of discipline and concentration we can have another good week.''

Vaughan is enthused by another test of his improving team's credentials.

''Over the last couple of years there have been many challenges thrown at this team,'' he said.

''I remember last summer it was a question of could we win all seven Tests? - and we did that.

''In the winter it was could we respond from getting beaten in Cape Town? - and we came back and won at the Wanderers. At Edgbaston we won and it was could we play again at Old Trafford? - and we did that.

''This next challenge is can we put three good performances together against a good Australia team? Only time will tell, but I've got a lot of confidence in the team.''

England's development has been aided by a settled squad, particularly during this series, and Vaughan hinted at another unchanged line-up by declaring they would be playing ''a similar XI'' at a ground where Australia have enjoyed considerable success.

In the 19 Ashes Tests played at Trent Bridge, England have won just three - and over the course of the next week they will face a new threat in the shape of tearaway fast bowler Shaun Tait.

The 22-year-old has been likened to Jeff Thomson because of his sling-shot action and will be making his debut as a replacement for Jason Gillespie, whose three wickets so far in the series have cost 100 runs each.

Tait, who will be the 392nd player to represent Australia at Test cricket, will present a new challenge for England because the only footage they have of him was during his short stint at Durham last season when he conceded 176 runs in his 18 overs.

''We don't know a great deal about him,'' admitted Vaughan.

''He played a little bit at Durham last year. But he's new and something we haven't seen too much of, so we'll have to be a little bit wary of him.

''We hear he's got pace and we've played against a similar bowler, we think, in Fidel Edwards last year in the West Indies - but until you've faced someone it's very difficult to say how you're going to respond and also how he's going to respond to his debut.''

Quite apart from becoming accustomed to the new member of Australia's attack, England can also take heart from an injury scare within the tourists' camp for the third successive Test - with Glenn McGrath suffering from a sore right elbow - although he is expected to recover in time.

But Vaughan insists in any case England will not read too much into such scare stories.

''We're just going to focus on our performance and our team, as we have done throughout the whole summer,'' he said.

''We're happy with the way preparations have gone for our team. We can't really control what team Australia are going to play - whichever XI Australia put out, you always know it's going to be a tough competitive game.''

England: MP Vaughan, ME Trescothick, AJ Strauss, IR Bell, KP Pietersen, A Flintoff, GO Jones, AF Giles, MJ Hoggard, SP Jones, SJ Harmison.

Australia (from): RT Ponting (capt), ML Hayden, JL Langer, DR Martyn, MJ Clarke, SM Katich, AC Gilchrist (wkt), SK Warne, B Lee, GD McGrath, SW Tait, MS Kasprowicz.

Umpires: SA Bucknor (WI) & Aleem Dar (Pak) 3rd Umpire: MR Benson

Match Referee: RS Madugalle (SL)