Vaughan proves a natural captain

Although he would have liked to have made more runs, this has been a good week for England's new one-day captain, Michael Vaughan.

He had taken over a side that is jittery about limited over cricket. The World Cup did not go well, recent one-day results have been disappointing and Vaughan himself has had no experience of captaincy at county level. Nor had another Yorkshireman, Len Hutton, when he took over the England captaincy in 1952.

Already one senses that he has the respect of his players. He clearly knows his own mind and the evidence is that he is happy to listen to suggestions and advice from anyone who might "see" something.

He is not a man who would allow the job to go to his head or to assume a sense of importance that was out of proportion. His handling of his bowlers has been shrewd and realistic and his field placings give the appearance of being carefully thought out.

In his first game, last Tuesday, he calmly held his ground when Pakistan got off to a good start. Then, when wickets eventually began to fall he always seemed in control and even in the closing overs when England badly needed those last two wickets, there was no change in his outward demeanour.

Although his innings of 29 in this third and final match was only a relative improvement, he led by example, determined not to let the bowlers settle down. Vaughan was rightly anxious to take control and was unlucky when a well-hit pull found the fielder at deep square leg.