John Rawling on the England Cricket Team's Chances in the West Indies

Whichever bright spark it was who drew up a Test fixture list for 2004 when England face the West Indies no less than eight times in five-day matches, not to mention in goodness knows how many one-day matches, would once have been accused of sadism on a grand scale.

A trip to the Caribbean was enough to send a shiver down the spine of more than a generation of England batsmen, but Michael Vaughan's touring party departs on Wednesday knowing they have an outstanding opportunity to look more like a side about to make an impression on the world rankings.

The fact is that the current West Indies, roundly thrashed on their recent visit to South Africa, are no more than a pale imitation of the teams that enjoyed world dominance in the 1970s and 80s.

How Tony Greig must sometimes wish his infamous "we're going to make them grovel" statement before the 1976 series had been made against a West Indies side with quick bowlers like the current generation of Merv Dillon, Fidel Edwards and Vasbert Drakes rather than Michael Holding and Andy Roberts, who made the outspoken England captain eat his words as Clive Lloyd's West Indies team, fired up and indignant, thundered their way to victory. How Mike Gatting must wish he had been facing a more benign bowler than Malcolm Marshall some 10 years later when a short-pitched delivery redesigned the contours of his nose.

"Joel Garner, Malcolm Marshall and Michael Holding," the BBC's cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew remembers of the West Indies attack that was facing England when he made his Test debut in 1984. "It was frightening. There is no other word for it. They had people like Patrick Patterson, Sylvester Clarke and Wayne Daniel who couldn't get in the side and they would walk into the current West Indies team."

But there are no such worries for Vaughan, who has made a decent enough start to his tenure as England captain after what some might call a hospital pass from Nasser Hussain before the second Test against South Africa last summer.

Initially, his own batting form was poor, and some critics compared his more laissez-faire approach to captaincy unfavourably with that of the more demonstrative, authoritarian Hussain. But there was much to admire in the spirit he produced in his side last summer, as England squared the series 2-2 against a South African team who had looked capable of sweeping them aside, and in the fact that he refused to panic when his own flow of runs slowed.

A predictable 2-0 victory over Bangladesh, followed by a defeat and two draws in Sri Lanka, gives Vaughan an overall return of four wins in nine games, which is by no means a disgrace. And, most heartening of all, his own return to form was underlined by his outstanding hundred in Kandy. Here was an innings of 105, ground out from 333 deliveries, which in the context of the game was surely one of the most admirable efforts of his career.

Those who know Vaughan well say he is one of the most likeable of men, and he clearly has the ability to get his team on side. Brilliant though his West Indian counterpart Brian Lara may be as a batsman, he has not always been as successful in dealing with dissent in the ranks and it will be interesting to see how effectively Lara copes with criticism if England get on top in the forthcoming series.

The reasons behind the decline in the West Indies' cricket are complex and not least rooted in the admiration in its youth for all things American, where basketball rules as a spectator attraction. But the Caribbean media, where several prominent former stars make a career as commentators, reflects an earlier generation. It can be unforgiving, and any cursory flick through West Indian cricket websites quickly reveals there are many fans who are far from convinced about Lara's skills as a captain and man manager.

Mike Brearley, who captained England to 18 Test victories in the 31 matches in which he led his country, is the most successful cricketing leader England has had in modern times and the man alongside whom Vaughan might one day be compared. Statistically, Australia's Steve Waugh is the only man who has been his superior.

Brearley's critics might say that, with a Test batting average of 22, he was never really good enough to have played Test cricket and that the loss column in his record would have looked very much worse if he had ever led England against the West Indies. But he unquestionably had the ability to get the most possible out of the players around him - not least the brilliant but unpredictable Ian Botham.

In his book The Art of Captaincy Brearley wrote: "There is no substitute for the leader's capacity to bring people together in a common task, so that people can take pleasure in their joint and individual work."

It was his job to motivate, innovate and inspire and, delightfully, he drew parallels between his own work and that of others. Captaining a cricket team, he concluded, was "a bit like gardening. Some plants need fertiliser to thrive. Others need pruning."

And there are signs Vaughan is a similarly creative thinker. Certainly he should be applauded for an initiative last week when the former England rugby union captain Martin Johnson was invited to take part in a question-and-answer session with Vaughan and the rest of the England cricketers at an ECB awards lunch. Johnson's words were well received, with the players hearing 40 minutes of his views on a variety of subjects, including his belief that the hours of practice and single-mindedness of Jonny Wilkinson provide a great example of what is necessary to be the best. And any young player striving to reach the top of their chosen sport should take note.

Vaughan's principal problem in the Caribbean might be in finding an extra cutting edge within his bowling attack. Steve Harmison and - assuming he proves his fitness with the England A team - Simon Jones might turn out to be the key figures. Both have pace and promise, but now is the time Vaughan must hope his young pacemen deliver in earnest.

Eight matches against the West Indies might once have meant local casualty departments being put on standby to deal with the splintered bones and bruised limbs of England's batsmen. Now they might realistically look for series victories.

Twenty-eight years after Greig's ill-timed outburst, it is still not a great idea to say "we will make them grovel", but at least the signs are there that England can build on recent progress and that Vaughan's reputation as England's Test captain will be enhanced.