The perfect straight man for a new double act

Michael Vaughan Interview: England's opening pair of complementary opposites promise much. Stephen Brenkley talks to the rapier twinned with a bludgeon

Whisper it quietly, take nothing for granted, hedge your bets, but maybe, just maybe, England have found a new, enduring pair of opening batsmen. A combination that could last them beyond the next Test match, even the next series and on into the brave new world of 2007, when the declared aim is that they will be the best side on the planet.

If the intended destiny of the team is to be fulfilled – doubtful, it must be reported, if not wholly ludicrous at this stage in the process – the form of Marcus Trescothick and Michael Vaughan may be intertwined – not so improbable. After a dodgy start on pitches to match last winter they have begun to demonstrate that they have the necessary qualities to prosper against the new ball.

One or both may also have a bearing on the team in another way. One or both is being freely tipped to be the successor to Nasser Hussain, who is widely predicted to be stepping down after the World Cup next year. Much, then, has come to depend on Vaughan and Trescothick in many ways.

Caution is advisable since there are certainly more complicated problems ahead than those set so far by the opening bowlers of New Zealand and Sri Lanka. India, too, in the later part of this domestic season are unlikely to provide a sustained threat. The authenticity of Trescothick and Vaughan will be much clearer after the Ashes series in the coming winter. Succeed in that and it may be valid to start making comparisons, though it should be stressed that some time must pass before Hobbs and Sutcliffe spring to mind.

Vaughan is not in that business. The elegant Yorkshireman (for he is that, despite his Lancashire birth) is aware of what he and the Somerset biffer have to do, but he is a take-each-game-as-it-comes merchant, not an Ashes visionary.

"I'm happy to have played seven Tests in a row," he said as he looked forward to making it eight. "It's my longest run since I got into the side, so it would definitely be tempting fate to look any further on than that. I'd batted at every position in the middle order before I was asked to open in New Zealand. I was pretty pleased about it because that's where I'd batted in all other forms of cricket all my life. Nobody gave any reason, they just asked me to do it, but I guess it was something do with the left-hand, right-hand combination.

"Everybody, well everybody but Australia [who have two left-handed openers] goes in for it. There's no doubt it helps, ask any bowler and they don't like the adjustments. We both look to hit the ball if it's there to hit, no matter what stage of the innings. But we also hit the ball in different areas and in different ways. I think Marcus might just hit it a bit harder."

Vaughan and Trescothick met as teenagers when they were both being tipped as bright young things. It is easy to suggest that, as they opened together for England Under-19s, they would inevitably go on to perform the task at senior level. Easy but wrong. Only one other pairing in the 28 years of such representative matches has gone on to senior status.

Since that was Michael Atherton and Mark Ramprakash, a disastrous experiment which was devised in 2000 to save the latter's international career, the present pair are the first legitimate partnership to graduate. "We've always liked each other's company," said Vaughan. "We used to smack the ball about a bit as boys, but it's not just that we like batting together. We talk in the middle and not just about cricket. We'll have a laugh. Off the pitch, we'll talk cricket but we don't exactly analyse it ball by ball. I think we're both pretty similar, being generally relaxed about things."

They were thrown together in 1994 when they opened for England Under-19s in three mini-Tests against India (Vaughan scored 301 runs at an average of 50, Trescothick 367 at 60, figures for which the nation would settle this summer). The Yorkshire lad was captain then, the Somerset boy followed him that winter. It is not hard to see where this may be leading. Vaughan gives nothing away. He laughs.

"I haven't given it a single moment's thought, being captain of England," he said in a way which brooked no contradiction. "I'm just trying to establish my place in the side and I would never say that I'm settled in anyway because once you do it's the kiss of death. Marcus is the vice-captain and he's doing a good job. All I'm prepared to say is that if it was ever offered it would be a terrific honour. When I was captain of an England A tour it seemed to go all right." Vaughan led the A side to South Africa and Zimbabwe early in 1999. They did not lose a match. The topic of his association with the captaincy (not to mention Trescothick) will not disappear until the succession is decided but it also begs the question of how tactically sound he is and how strong a leader he will prove.

His favourite reading, it has been observed and conceded, is the Dear Deirdre problem page in The Sun, which has probably not been the preference of most previous England captains in waiting. He freely admits that this has led tostick in the dressing room. Nor does it always necessarily lead to his devouring the thoughts of their estimable cricket correspondent. Vaughan is of the school that pundits are entitled to their opinion but that his cause or knowledge are not necessarily being advanced by reading them.

This could create an impression of somebody who does not think deeply about the game. If it would be partly his fault it would also be wrong. He acquires videos of bowlers from round the world, studies them – howto play them, how the scoring opportunities might come. When he is on the field he suspects that he may think too much. "Five-day cricket is very intense and I'm aware of what concentration it takes and how draining it is. Nasser is the type of captain who encourages you to offer your opinion and I'll do so if I think it's worthwhile. But that doesn't set me apart. He wants 11 captains."

He is not an obsessive about the game. If he gets a few days off he does not hang around Headingley but heads for the golf course. Equally, he is not the type of cricketer who would never go near the game if he did not play it for a living. "I love all sports, football, golf the lot, and I'd always go to watch Yorkshire and England if I wasn't playing for them."

Vaughan was always destined to play internationally. It was not only his Under-19 prowess but his efficient temperament from the day he made his Yorkshire debut. It was a Roses match at Manchester; he was the first Lancashire-born player to appear for Yorkshire in 73 years; he saw five partners come and go; Wasim Akram had his tail up; he ended up with 64.

This was sedateness personified compared to his Test debut. It is a famous, nay infamous story. England were 0 for 2 against South Africa at the Wanderers when he walked out for his first Test innings and were soon 2 for 4. He made a valiant 33 in conditions as adverse as he is ever likely to encounter. From that sort of start, he deserved an international career to go smoothly. It never has. Injury and selectorial whim have meant constant interruptions. Occasionally, he has made the team, batted sublimely and still managed to frustrate himself and us. Witness his masterly 64 in Bangalore last winter when he became only the seventh player in Tests and the second Englishman after Graham Gooch to be given out handled ball.

Yet he is perfectly sanguine. It complements his calm strokeplay. He is an excellent, elegant cover driver and a full-blooded exponent of the pull. Off his legs, too, he can be wonderful to watch. If he was once deemed too deliberate for anything but Tests (as, wrongly, was Michael Atherton before him) he laid that canard to rest last winter with a ripping 59 from 53 balls in a one-dayer in Auckland. He has the graceful bearing of the old English hoofer, Jack Buchanan, and that night he had the footwork.

Vaughan's placid nature will become his trademark and his hallmark. "As an opener you are sometimes going to get a pitch which you want to bat on and sometimes one you don't, good and bad. The thing is you have to get on with it. That actually is part of the fun of opening. I've been getting in and getting out too often until recently. It can affect the whole side. The openers set the tone, that's why it's important not to get out when you have seen off the early stages with the new ball."

If the Vaughan-Trescothick combo turned a corner, it was at Lord's last month. It was their fourth Test as a partnership: in New Zealand they had been seamed out sharing stands of 0, 11, 26, 79, 0 and 23. In the first innings against Sri Lanka they put on 17. If Trescothick was first out, Vaughan's 64 ended with a crass top edge.

It was not looking good for them or for England. Actually, it looked dreadful for England. They were all out for 275 and were forced to follow on. They had bowled badly and batted worse. On Saturday night in the changing room they had a conference. It was not quite a summit aimed at heading off Armageddon but it was big stuff. Hussain told them that they had to do better, that they had to think about it. "We knew we had let ourselves and the team down," said Vaughan. "Funnily enough I had rolled up to Lord's feeling out of nick. I couldn't put my finger on it but something wasn't right and I knew it. Within 10 minutes of being in the net Duncan Fletcher spotted something in my technique. It was only a little thing and I'd prefer not to say what it was now but as soon as I made the change I felt good again. These tiny quirks can be really significant. You might get runs if they are not addressed but you won't do it consistently and that's what it's about. It made a complete difference to me and how I felt going into that match."

The first wicket put on 162 in England's second innings and provided a platform for saving the match. Vaughan made 115, his second Test hundred, his first at Lord's. He survived two chances on the fourth morning but his utter refusal to be ruffled was another stamp of the man. The achievement meant much, as it does to all players. For example, Vaughan's predecessor as England's opening batsman, Atherton, never made a Lord's hundred.

Where the Yorkshireman who was born in Lancashire goes from here is uncertain. However, one of his nicknames is Virgil. Apparently, this is because he bears a passing resemblance to the puppet astronaut hero of Thunderbirds, but it may as well be because he is heading for the stars.

Biography: Michael Paul Vaughan

Born: 29 October 1974 in Manchester.

Represents: Yorkshire, England.

Test debut: v South Africa, Johannesburg 1999/2000.

Test career: Matches: 18. Batting – Innings: 30. Runs: 1,035. Average: 35.68. Hundreds: 2. Highest score: 120. Bowling statistics: 48-8-181-0. Catches: 12.

One-day international debut: v Sri Lanka, Dambulla 2000/01.

ODI career: Matches: 13. Batting – Innings: 13. Runs: 248. Average: 20.66. Highest score: 63. Bowling statistics: 21.4-1-112-2 (av 56.0). Catches: 3.

First-class career: Batting – 10,116 runs. Average: 35.61. Highest score: 183. Bowling – 1,426 overs, 108 wickets at 44.26. Best bowling: 4-39.