Hampshire have appointed Giles White as team manager for the 2009 season and confirmed they are hoping to recruit former England head coach Duncan Fletcher as a consultant.

Former captain Michael Vaughan was today named among a dozen England players to be centrally-contracted for the next year.

England coach Peter Moores wants Kevin Pietersen to be himself when he takes charge of the England cricket team against South Africa tomorrow morning. Moores and Pietersen are not natural bedfellows – one revels in the limelight whilst the other is at his happiest away from its glare – and neither party has denied that they have held contrasting views on the cricket England play.

In the wake of the last Ashes humiliation, a review into the state of the England team was announced. Its intention was to establish a system which would lead to enduring triumph.

There was something different about Michael Vaughan's demeanour when he faced the media after England's devastating five-wicket loss to South Africa on Saturday evening. The series defeat signified beyond doubt that Vaughan's England side were a pale imitation of the team that triumphed over Australia in 2005, and were light years away from becoming the outfit he wanted them to be.

Michael Vaughan, England's most successful test cricket captain of all time, resigned today following his side's series defeat against South Africa.

England are in a mess. It may be largely of their own making, although South Africa have stirred the pot with immense, hard-nosed gusto. They might have won yesterday, there were times when they thought they would indeed do so.

If there are two qualities that have defined Paul Collingwood as a cricketer, they are courage and self-belief when pressure is at its most intense and the innings he played here yesterday encapsulated both. Two weeks after suffering the lowest moment of his Test career when he was dropped, in wretched form, from the side picked at Headingley, he responded with a performance he believes he will never forget.

Paul Collingwood rediscovered his form to revive England's hopes of levelling the npower Test series against South Africa at Edgbaston.

National selector Geoff Miller has sought an explanation from captain Michael Vaughan following his comments about team selection for the second Test against South Africa.

The input of England’s backroom staff will be more important than that of the team’s high-profile coaches in the build up to Friday’s second Test at Headingley. Kirk Russell, Mark Saxby, Sam Bradley and Steve Bull are employed to treat, massage, train and psychologically enhance England’s weary cricketers and they will need to be at their best to get Michael Vaughan’s side in tip top condition for Leeds.

Michael Vaughan last night warned England fans not to expect too much from Andrew Flintoff when he returns to the England side.