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Keep up standards, Vaughan tells rookies
MICHAEL Vaughan has warned
England's new-look attack they
will need to maintain the high
levels of performance they
achieved in Wellington if they
are to retain their places in the
Test side.
England sprang a surprise in
the build-up to the previous Test
at the Basin Reserve by dropping
experienced seamers Matthew
Hoggard and Steve Harmison, a
decision which was vindicated by
the tourists claiming a comfortable
126-run victory over New
Zealand to level the series.
Jimmy Anderson played a key
role in that success by claiming
seven wickets on his comeback,
while Stuart Broad continued to
impress with a superb spell after
lunch on the fourth day to claim
two wickets and edge England
closer to victory.
The tourists are expected to
name an unchanged line-up for
the deciding Test as they attempt
to win a three-Test series having
lost the opening match for the
first time since winning in Sri
Lanka under Nasser Hussain
seven years ago.
But as promising a start as it
was for England's new-look attack,
they cannot afford to rest
easily as Vaughan has been impressed
with the efforts of both
Hoggard and Harmison in practice.
I've been really happy with
the way the two senior guys have
knuckled down and given me a
big indication that they are desperate
to get their places back,''
said Vaughan.
That's exactly what you want
as a captain. It's now up to the
young players to take their opportunity
and try to keep those
senior players out of the side.
It's a good environment because
it's competitive. I thought
Hoggy and Harmy handled the
young lads well last week by offering
advice off the pitch.
It was refreshing that we had
two young guys who did well, but
it's just one game and they know
they have to do it again this
week.''
England's Wellington triumph,
only their second overseas success
in 17 Tests and their first victory
in the last eight Tests, has
suddenly lifted spirits following
the despondency of Hamilton
after they slumped to a desperate
189-run first Test defeat.
But Vaughan is aware that for
England to gel into a side able to
compete with the best teams in
the world, they need to build on
that success and become more
consistent.
The team is obviously improving,
but it's at its early
stages,'' he stressed. We've won
one game and we just want to try
to improve.
We have a lot of young players
in the side, which is exciting,
but we also want those older players
out of the side to be pushing
to get back in the team.
I think there's an atmosphere
being created and I do think it's
an opportunity to move the team
on and win a series, which is
something we haven't done yet.
We play them here to try to
win this series, then there's three
Tests back home so it's a great
opportunity to try to win some
games and some series.''
He conceded: It was an important
moment for us all at
Wellington to win the game, but
we've done nothing yet. We've
won one game of cricket, it's only
1-1 and we really want to win this
series.
We want to win a series because
we haven't won our last
two and it would be great if we
could do that here, certainly after
where we were after Hamilton.''
To achieve that, Vaughan is
aware England need a greater
contribution from their top six -
none of whom have scored a first
innings century in the last eight
Tests - and particularly star batsman
Kevin Pietersen, who is now
without a half-century in his last
ten innings.
Unluckily run out in the second
innings at Wellington at the
non-striker's end, Pietersen has
shown signs of regaining his old
swagger in the last few days and
Vaughan is predicting a major innings
from him at McLean Park.
I saw a little bit of a lack of
confidence at Hamilton, but I felt
he got that back this last week,''
he said. He was very unfortunate
in the second innings when
he looked very good and I've just
seen him bat in the nets on a
spicy wicket and smash the
bowlers everywhere.
Kevin's an unbelievable talent
who could quite easily go out
there and smash a double hundred
and I certainly hope that's
what he does.
He came on to the international
scene with a huge bang.
It's only six games ago that he got
a hundred so it's not too much,
it's just that we all expect Kevin
to be scoring a hundred every
other game.
I've no doubt that he will do
that if he gets in and gets a bit of
luck, which you need when
you're batting.''
9:07am Friday 21st March 2008
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