England Appoint Vaughan

Michael Vaughan has been appointed as England's new one-day captain.

The Yorkshire batsman takes over from test skipper Nasser Hussain, who resigned from his one-day responsibilities after England failed to progress beyond the first round of this year's World Cup in southern Africa.

The 28-year-old opener, who made his one-day international debut against Sri Lanka in 2001, will lead the team in 10 one-day matches at home later this year but there will be no time limit on his captaincy.

Vaughan, who skippered an England A tour to South Africa and Zimbabwe in 1998-99, was given the captaincy ahead of rival candidates Adam Hollioake and Marcus Trescothick.

"As well as being a world class batsman, Michael is a strong character with a sound cricketing brain," said David Graveney, chairman of the selectors.

"While he does not have extensive captaincy experience...the selectors firmly believe he has the personal attributes required to handle the pressures of the England one-day captaincy both on and off the field."

Vaughan added: "To lead your country is a great achievement and it's a chance for us to start afresh although I believe we were only one wicket away (in losing to Australia) from reaching the World Cup semi-finals this year.

"My batting shouldn't be affected. When you're out in the middle you're concentrating on that white ball and nothing else."

Hollioake has already had one spell as one-day skipper, leading England to victory at the 1997 Champions Trophy tournament in Sharjah before losing the job two years later.

Vaughan was one of the few success stories for England in their 4-1 Ashes series defeat to Australia at the turn of the year, with his three centuries earning him the player-of-the-series award.

It followed a successful 2002 English season when he scored four test hundreds.

He heads the Pricewaterhouse Cooper test batting ratings and is the first Englishman since Graham Gooch 10 years ago to top the rankings.

Meanwhile, Rodney Marsh, the former Australian wicketkeeper who has been running the ECB academy, has been appointed as an England selector.