New-age Buzz Has England Humming

If a measure of the status of a one-day cricket side is made in terms of close games won and potential cakewalks for the opposition made difficult, then England's new regime have already made significant progress.

Friday's win at The Oval in the recent three-match series against Pakistan may have been a romp but the almost successful defence of a paltry total at Old Trafford and Sunday's heart-stopping run chase at Lord's to win the series were worthy efforts of a competitive side. Not too long ago, England would have been obliterated.

Faced with a triangular series involving Zimbabwe, who they face in Nottingham tomorrow, and then South Africa, Michael Vaughan sat back in the pavilion at Trent Bridge yesterday and spoke warmly of the exuberance an injection of youth has brought to the side, and the match-winning lift in fielding standards that accompanies it.

"It is a pleasure to see the influx of energy," he said. "You can see it in the field. To come as close as we did to defending a low total at Old Trafford was down to the fielding. Vikram Solanki, Jim Troughton and Rikki Clarke are outstanding fielders and [they] are saving in the region of 10 to 20 runs per innings. [The coach] Duncan Fletcher pointed out after The Oval match that it was Vikram's fielding at backward point that set up James Anderson's hat-trick.

"The whole buzz in the field has helped me as captain. I look at the relaxed mode they are in when I take them on to the field. They may be nervous, in fact I'm sure they are, but it's how they cope which is important. We have asked for character and they all seem to have that. They are enjoying playing in front of the big crowds and on the big stage, which in turn brings a high enjoyment factor for me."

Vaughan may not have noticed F Batson's famous painting hanging above his head in Long Room but it had a certain prescience, for on Sunday it was Marcus Trescothick 'Playing Out Time in an Indifferent Light', and against someone bowling at 95 mph at that.

Trescothick, said Vaughan, had been "incredible". But he preferred to talk of Chris Read, the young wicketkeeper without whose contribution England may well have foundered. "I guess the confidence we should take from Lord's is that it was a young lad who got us home in only his third comeback game. Hopefully the confidence to be gained from being out there in the middle with Marcus will carry him on."

For Fletcher, sitting alongside Vaughan, these are "exciting times", with the prospect of taking on a group of novices and steering many of them towards the 2007 World Cup.

"It definitely feels like a watershed," he said. "You only had to be at our first-team talk and see all the different faces to see that. It is a huge change, and they are at the start of a massive learning curve. We encourage them to speak up and contribute, ahead even of the senior players, to get them talking and thinking about the game."

The difficulty for England comes in knowing how far to pursue an interest in one player at the exclusion of another. Troughton, for instance, while showing dynamism in the field, has looked less secure with the bat, and against the high pace of Shoaib Akhtar he was a little apprehensive.

Fletcher, who has seen Troughton in only the three matches against Pakistan and on a couple of occasions in the nets, is content to sit back and observe. "Opportunity is a problem," the coach said. "We want to make sure that people get a chance but we also need to give players a decent run in the side.

"It is trying to get that balance. People must realise that it would be extremely rare for all 11 to perform at 100% over a period of time or even in a match. There is always going to be a guy who is having a bad trot. We can accept that Troughton struggled a little but he has some talent for certain."

England should comfortably beat Zimbabwe, a side equally in transition but less well resourced. The first serious test will come at The Oval on Saturday when they face Graeme Smith's new-look South Africa.

It was a shrewd move by their selectors to distance themselves totally from the Hansie Cronje era by opting for a young player who had never even met the former captain. Smith, 22, expresses himself willingly and is keen to regain the confidence of the South African public after their World Cup debacle.

England, he says, are undoubtedly favourites for this series. "No," Vaughan said, "South Africa are the second best side in the world after Australia."

As neither got beyond the formative stage of the World Cup, and Zimbabwe did, they were comments that went down well in the third camp. "What do I think of England and South Africa?" said Zimbabwe's coach Geoff Marsh with a grin. "As we didn't see them in the Super Sixes, I didn't get much of a look."