Captain aware England expects

Michael Vaughan tries to release some tension with a net

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Michael Vaughan leads England into this week’s opening Test against New Zealand admitting they are under pressure to perform after struggling to live up to expectations in the last couple of years.

England have won only three of their last eight Test series since winning the Ashes in 2005 and lost their last two successive series, at home to India and in Sri Lanka before Christmas.

With the 2009 Ashes series now looming over the horizon, England captain Vaughan knows it is imperative to build some momentum before the Australia Tests.

But before they begin making plans to combat Brett Lee, Ricky Ponting and Andrew Symonds, they first have back-to-back series with New Zealand to negotiate and although England are favourites, Vaughan knows they must deliver as a team.

“We have to look to develop a team now that can beat New Zealand here, beat New Zealand at home and beat South Africa and really progress towards those Ashes in 2009,” stressed Vaughan.

“That is a long way off but the building blocks and the stabilisation of the team should be starting now if we’re really going to have a chance of winning those Ashes next year.

“There’s a pressure as a unit to try and get ourselves back to consistent cricket. We’ve got to be realistic and realise that if we don’t start doing it now then questions will be asked because this is a great opportunity to play good cricket, hopefully win some games and get some series wins under our belt.”

Vaughan, heralded as the best captain in the world three years ago, insists he feels under no greater pressure now than at any time since taking over the job in 2003.

“I don’t think there’s a day when you’re not under pressure as an England captain,” he claimed.

“I haven’t felt under any more pressure than I’ve been under in the last few years but I think the team realise that we need to start playing some good cricket and winning the series will be very important to the development of this side.

Vaughan shows textbook batting technique

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“We’re all excited and really focused on starting well on Wednesday and trying to play a sustained period of good cricket not just in this series, but the home series against New Zealand and South Africa later on in the summer.”

England’s biggest problem since that Ashes success has been a constantly changing line-up with the loss of Marcus Trescothick through illness while injuries have deprived them of Vaughan, Simon Jones and Andrew Flintoff and Ashley Giles has retired.

Vaughan admitted: “We do need to get to that settled side, which we had a few years ago but we haven’t had it for a while. The sooner we get to becoming a settled side everyone will be happier.

“Results are very important because with good results you do become a settled side. We know there’s a bit of pressure on and this is the time we have to try and deliver and make sure we start this series well and play good cricket throughout the series.”

Having endured tough series against India and Sri Lanka most recently, England could perhaps not have picked a better team to play than New Zealand who have won only three of their last 10 Tests - and two of those were during last month’s series win over Bangladesh.

Vaughan, though, believes England would be foolish to underestimate a side which includes the talents of all-rounder Jacob Oram, hard-hitting wicketkeeper-batsman Brendon McCullum and captain Daniel Vettori.

“You know with New Zealand they’re always going to be very street-wise,” he added. “They do have some mature players in their ranks that can also be very dangerous.

“Their middle order can certainly be very dangerous and explosive and some of their players are in good form. It will be a tough series, but it’s a series that I expect us to play well in.”