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Vaughan's century delivers an early warning to Australia

Queensland 582 England 322-7 Match drawn

Angus Fraser
Tuesday 05 November 2002 01:00 GMT
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The storm clouds that prematurely ended England's last day of match practice before Thursday's first Test were probably apt, considering the news on Darren Gough's knee. However, it was not all doom and gloom at the Allan Border Field here as Gough's county colleague Michael Vaughan emphatically proved his fitness for battle against the world champions with a magnificent innings of 127.

With England still 476 runs behind Queensland's mammoth total of 582 at the start of the last day's play, yesterday was always going to be about batting practice for Nasser Hussain's side and the game could have been frittered away. It was not, though, and the batsman who made sure of this was the one who needed time in the middle most.

Playing in his first game of competitive cricket for almost two months, the 27-year-old Vaughan showed no signs of discomfort following an operation on a knee injury almost seven weeks ago. His rehabilitation has taken longer than expected and he has cut fine proving his fitness, but it has been Vaughan, rather than Gough or Andrew Flintoff – who missed his opportunity of impressing the selectors yesterday by scoring only three – whom Hussain and the England coach, Duncan Fletcher, have been most desperate to see fit for Thursday.

After being on the field for almost 16 of the 18 hours of this match. it would be safe to say that Vaughan's name will appear on the team sheet to face Australia. Starting the day on 49 not out, the first thing he did was watch England's night-watchman Matthew Hoggard edge the third ball of the day to the wicketkeeper. This was not the ideal start but, once joined at the crease by Mark Butcher, Vaughan carried on from where he had left off on Sunday.

Butcher will have been happy with his time at the crease, as will Hussain and Stewart, but the form of John Crawley will be of concern with only two practice days to go, one of which, today, they have been given off.

Possessing and not being afraid to play shots has been the biggest reason for Vaughan's development into a world-class player over the last six months. Bowlers are now aware that if they bowl a ball slightly off line at the right-hander they will be punished whether it be short or full and because of this they are more likely to come along.

For a man who does not have a physical presence at the crease, Vaughan hits the ball very hard and no matter what sort of field Queensland set he was still able to find the gaps with powerful drives, cuts and pulls. "I am delighted with the way things have gone," he said. "There were times in Perth when things were progressing slowly and there was always that doubt in the back of my mind that I may not make it in time. But this was probably the perfect game for me, with five sessions in the field and three or four out there batting. It was a true test of whether the knee was fit and it has come through really well."

Vaughan's innings was not chanceless. On 75 he was dropped by Andrew Symonds at fine leg hooking at a Damien McKenzie bouncer. This is a shot that is sure to be relayed to the Australian pace man Glenn McGrath, who has already announced that Vaughan is his target for the series.

Intimidation comes in two forms when facing the world's No 1 bowler – bouncers and sledging. But, whatever is thrown at him, Vaughan seems unlikely to be fazed.

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