Coach Duncan Fletcher has given his full backing to captain Michael Vaughan and is confident he can emerge from his latest slump to finally become a force for England in one-day cricket.

Vaughan's struggles with the bat in limited overs cricket are a mystery to everyone within the England camp for a player who has looked so accomplished in Tests.

His latest loss of form, scoring just 12 runs in his last four innings, have contributed to England's successive defeats by Sri Lanka and Australia and he needs to improve quickly if his side are to qualify for the semi-finals.

Since returning from a long-standing knee injury, which sidelined him for a year, Vaughan has scored only 126 runs in nine innings, which have included five single figure scores prompting speculation about whether he merits a place in the side.

But Fletcher is remaining fiercely loyal and believes it is only a matter of time before Vaughan makes his mark on the tournament, despite a career average of 26.51 which suggests differently.

''I believe he is a good one-day batsman, but he has got to get back to realising his true potential,'' said Fletcher.

''He batted very well at the start of this tour and got a good 62 in the warm-up match against Australia, which was exactly what we needed up front.

''It's not as if he's batting badly, he's batting very well in the nets and he looks and feels at the top of his game. He's putting himself under pressure when he's had a few bad knocks and maybe the captaincy is getting to him.

''Having chatted to him he looks very confident and he is still full of belief about his captaincy, but he probably just puts pressure on himself knowing as captain he has to go out there and get runs.''

Vaughan's record as captain is even less impressive under scrutiny than his career record despite becoming England's longest-serving one-day captain during Sunday's defeat by Australia at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.

Sunday's match was his 57th as captain, which overhauled the previous record held by predecessor Nasser Hussain, but during that period he averages just 28.08 - a poor return for an opening batsman.

He is still waiting for the first century of his one-day international career despite making 83 appearances for England and his record as captain is inferior to Hussain's, who had his own struggles for runs as captain but still averaged 31.33.

Compare that record with Australia's Ricky Ponting, who averaged 44.23 during his first 57 matches as captain although by his standards had a major barren run of 12 innings without a century.

But Fletcher believes the experiences of Hussain, who had to wait 39 innings before his first and only one-day international century, and to a lesser extent of Ponting indicate that Vaughan can also emerge from his run drought.

''There have been other captains that have been through terrible periods as well,'' claimed Fletcher.

''Look at Ricky Ponting as captain and that just shows that captaincy does affect you.

''He's just lost a bit of confidence and put pressure on himself, but his place is safe in the side. From my point of view he is a very good captain.

''I've been through this before when Nasser was captain and he went through some very bad trots and came out of them and proved he was still a good captain and could go out there and get runs.''

Fletcher believes England should begin looking at Vaughan as an all-rounder who is struggling at one aspect of his game rather than the captain and opening batsman.

Premier all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, who is also struggling for runs with only 49 in the tournament, is assured of his place because he is instrumental to England's bowling attack and Fletcher believes Vaughan should be looked at in a similar manner.

''Michael is an all-rounder for us,'' he claimed. ''He captains, which is a huge job on its' own and he's a very good batsman.

''It's the same with Andrew Flintoff. Do you drop him because he has not got runs but is bowling outstandingly well? What I'm saying is that Michael Vaughan is a very effective batsman for England and all he has done is lose a little form with the bat.

''Captaincy affects people in different ways. It's a very difficult job to do. It's a complex job and if you suddenly lose a bit of form when you're batting and lose your confidence then it becomes even more difficult.''

England transferred from their Antigua base to Barbados yesterday, where they will play the remaining three matches of the Super Eight stage - starting with tomorrow's match against Bangladesh.

They also have to face South Africa, who were only deposed as the world's number one one-day side in the rankings by their shock defeat to Bangladesh.