Cricket: England Need an Attack to Match Vaughan's Stubborn Streak

The Special One returns to Test cricket today. Almost 18 months since Michael Vaughan donned his whites in Lahore for the final match of a series against Pakistan, he returns on his home ground to lead England against West Indies. It has been a long journey for him, a dedicated slog involving operations on his knee and countless hours of rehabilitation to recover, thus far anyway, from a condition that threatened not only his career but his future quality of life. If there are people who do not admire him for the singlemindedness that it took, then they are churls.

Whether he should have been brought back into the side with what appears to be indecent haste is another matter altogether. England players recovering from injury are, or have been, required to demonstrate their fitness for purpose, in terms of ability to last the course, and their form, by playing competitive cricket. Vaughan has demonstrated nothing of the sort. Special One indeed. "I am England captain," he is saying, "and I've made myself available so I have to play." He might have added that it is his bat and ball, and ya boo to the lot of you.

The persistent injury to Andrew Flintoff's ankle has made Vaughan's passage into the team less contentious than it might otherwise have been. When Owais Shah was selected for Lord's it was evident that he was a stopgap, although he could have muddied the waters by scoring runs. But a return for Flintoff, and Vaughan's recovery from the finger injury that kept him out of the first Test, would have necessitated a harsh decision to accommodate the captain, with one of Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Andrew Strauss standing down.

With centuries at Lord's from all but Strauss , the chances are it would have been the fellow who led them in the drawn first Test who was forced to stand down. If it could be argued that Strauss has no real form behind him of late, then Vaughan scarcely offers a strong claim.

Flintoff's absence, though, and the probability that, as at Lord's, England will go into the match with only four front-line bowlers, means that Vaughan can slot back in at number three, the position occupied by Shah in the last game, with no disruption elsewhere, save to Bell, who in what looks now like a pre-emptive strike, was shifted down the order to six, where he made one of England's five centuries.

Seven years ago, the match here be-tween the two sides was a fiasco, finishing in an England win inside two days, Andy Caddick taking four wickets in an over. Such frivolity is unlikely this time although, as ever with Headingley, the players will be casting their eyes skywards as well as down to the surface. Cloud here invariably means movement for seam bowlers: blue skies, though, and there are runs to be scored.

Yesterday the pitch was kept under cover, an indication that the groundsman has dried it out to his satisfaction and does not want to overcook it. This being the case there ought not to be extravagant movement, though inside intelligence suggests that it will not have real pace in it. There could be big runs to be had.

The absence of Matthew Hoggard, on his home ground as well, will be as unwelcome as it was for most of the game at Lord's. His reliability over the past year has been a counterpoint to the extravagance elsewhere, and at Lord's Steve Harmison and Liam Plunkett were unable to give Strauss the support he needed. It fell to Monty Panesar to bail him out.

Both seamers have been given the opportunity of redemption here, which is right and proper - as it would normally be accorded a batsman - and the choice of Hoggard's replacement will be between James Anderson or Ryan Sidebottom. Anderson was brought down to Lord's before the match and would have played had four seamers been chosen, so logic suggests that he will play.

But the selection of the left-arm Sidebottom six years after his only Test match comes so far from left field it might be that he is preferred, if only in the interest of variety. Research will have shown too that Chris Gayle, appears to be on the verge of emerging from a slump, had been reduced to strokelessness last winter by the swing of Chaminder Vaas and later, in the World Cup, was tied in knots by Nathan Bracken.

For West Indies there is the chance to demonstrate that the collective spirit that was so evident at Lord's, and in particular the manner in which Dwayne Bravo and Dinesh Ramdin took responsibility down the order at a time when the side was struggling.

Rain certainly spoiled the final day and scuppered what might have been an England win, but West Indies emerged with real credit. England though have the potential to bat them out of the game, especially if they win the toss, and then hope that neither Harmison nor Plunkett can bowl as poorly as they did at Lord's, and that umpire Asad Rauf will show further generosity of spirit to Panesar.

Pitch watch:


The wicket:

Kept under wraps yesterday to prevent it drying too much so should not offer the same early seam movement as the damp surface at Lord's did on the opening day. May be easy paced.

Win toss and . . .

Bat seems the likely choice. Even if there is cloud in the sky, neither side looks like making the most of it with the ball.

Weather Overnight showers should clear this morning. Cloudy later. Sunny intervals forecast for tomorrow but light showers expected on Sunday and Monday.

Temperature 13C

Relative humidity 48%

England (from)

M Vaughan (capt) (Yorkshire)

A Cook (Essex)

A Strauss (Middlesex)

K Pietersen (Hampshire)

P Collingwood (Durham)

I Bell (Warwickshire)

M Prior (wkt) (Sussex)

L Plunkett (Durham)

M Panesar (Northants)

R Sidebottom (Notts)

S Harmison (Durham)

J Anderson (Lancashire)

West Indies (from)

R Sarwan (capt), C Gayle, D Ganga, D Smith, S Chanderpaul, R Morton, D Bravo, D Ramdin (wkt), D Powell, F Edwards, C Collymore, J Taylor, D Sammy, R Rampaul.

Umpires R Koertzen (SA) and A Rauf (Pak) Third umpire I Gould (Eng)

Match referee A Hurst (Aus)