Cricket: Vaughan Defiant Over Injuries

No matter how much Michael Vaughan wishes otherwise, one overriding question will dog him throughout the World Cup. Just how fit is he? England leave for the Caribbean today with the knowledge that an inspirational captain upon whom so much depends might not be able to last the course.

Long-term fears about a rickety knee have temporarily given way to others over the state of the hamstring which severely disrupted his international comeback in Australia in January. Either way, every grimace, every stretch will be analysed to the point of distraction. The question will never go away.

"I've spoken too much about injuries," said Vaughan. "I don't enjoy being constantly asked about my knee and my hamstring." That complaint came in Sheffield on Tuesday. Yesterday, at England's farewell media conference at the Sofitel hotel at Gatwick, he had to wait about two seconds before the question reared its head again.

Was he 100% certain that he will be fit? He cannot honestly say "Yes" so he settled for saying "I certainly hope so" and that his treatment since returning home early from Australia has been encouraging. "I've been in constant rehab for the last 2½ weeks," he said. "It has got better and better. Until I have actually played a game of cricket and come off the field fine I don't want to start shouting too soon. But it feels great. It has passed a lot of tests including batting, bowling and fielding, and plenty of shuttle work."

Vaughan makes such promises on auto-pilot: eyes glazed, voice robotic, fully aware that his assurances sound hollow. This is the third time we have been here this winter. His left hamstring gave way in Hobart against New Zealand and again on his return in Brisbane against the same opposition.

Andrew Flintoff will step back into the captaincy if Vaughan breaks down again but England are so loth to admit the possibility that they have made no official announcement. Instead they left it to Vaughan, who was able to talk about Flintoff's stand-by role as if it will never happen. If Flintoff has any sense, he will have swotted up on his fielding positions. "Andrew will deputise if it gets to a stage where I have to miss a game but hopefully it won't come to that," Vaughan said.

Vaughan's suggestion that he will be lightly treated in England's two warm-up games in St Lucia - "I will play a little part in the Bermuda game on Monday and more so against Australia" - implies that England will mollycoddle him as much as possible until their opening group game against New Zealand on March 16.

The entire group stage, assuming that England do not slip up against Canada or Kenya, will be monumentally irrelevant, so much so that Vaughan's real fitness target should be the first Super Eight group game at the end of March.

Vaughan needs no reminding that England have performed poorly in the last three World Cups. They must go back to 1992, when they lost in the final to Pakistan in Melbourne, for a creditable display, although the 2003 vintage might have challenged had not the political furore over Zimbabwe scuppered them.

England's unexpected victory in the Commonwealth Bank series has given Vaughan licence to claim the tag of "dark horses" and Australia's recent lapses meant that he barely paid lip service to their status as favourites.

"The World Cup is wide open for one of the top eight teams to go on and win it," said Vaughan. "Most teams are strong in [some] areas and weak in others."

Few expect England to claim the trophy in Barbados on April 28 and, of those who do, few would be confident that it would be Vaughan, not Flintoff, holding the trophy. Vaughan has much to prove - a one-day batting average of 27.70 and a strike-rate of only 68 runs per 100 balls is unimpressive. For all that, England regard him as indispensable.