Aussies find their public enemy No1

They want it to prey on Vaughan's mind that they think he's so good they're raising their game specially for him. Ah, but this wouldn't be dear old gentle Adelaide, they say, but the lightning WACA where it's not just the pesky flies which will end up bombarding your helmet.

It's already very hot and, for Vaughan, now that Bichel's solidity has been replaced by Brett Lee's hostility, it's going to get more bothersome-"There's no doubt that at certain times in his innings he looked uncomfortable against short-pitched bowling and we'll be targeting him," warned Bichel, while McGrath noted how he lost control of the shot when the ball reared about shoulder height.

They made him sound hapless when, of course, he was actually so discomfited against the short ball in Adelaide that when Bichel bounced him, he twice deposited him into the George Giffen stand.

"Check the scorebook," was Nasser Hussain's amused response to the way the opposition have apparently suddenly discovered some great weakness. "I don't think there's anybody, not even in Australia, who could now doubt the class of Vaughan's batting."

Quite right. When they read of the Mancunian's four summer hundreds against Sri Lanka and India, they liked to convince themselves it was against impoverished attacks. Yet now they've observed the aggressive, fearless manner in which he's dealt with the twin deities McGrath and Shane Warne, they can see for themselves. This week, Vaughan was elevated to fifth in the world batting
rankings behind Hayden, Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar and Adam Gilchrist - in itself an indication of Australian supremacy - to give him the highest rating of any Englishman since Graham Gooch a decade ago.

Another 97 runs over the next two Tests would see him pass Dennis Amiss's tally of 1379 runs in 1974, the highest by any Englishman in a calendar year.

These figures, however imposing, tell nothing of the stylish way he's joined this august company. Both he and Hayden may deal largely in either dot balls or fours, yet while the Australian, all muscle, simply butchers attacks, the slender Vaughan dissects them more precisely, defending with skill but elegantly clinical when given any opportunity to attack.

An Englishman would say this, I suppose, but Vaughan's batting is easier on the eye.

Yet, in a way, his real test probably begins only now that his towering performances increasingly see him being touted as Hussain's potential successor. This can only put more onus on a man who's also had his downers during this series, what with his dropped sitter and second innings duck in Brisbane. These Australians, well aware that Vaughan looked capable of taking the game away from them if not for Bichel's intervention in the last over of the first day at Adelaide, are going to be remorselessly on his case.

They'll remember how it was only 12 months ago that he was struggling even to get into the line-up he now dominates.

Having seemingly already found out Vaughan's opening partner Marcus Trescothick, the Australians will urgently want this potential irritant to be reacquainted with self-doubt on a strip which groundsman Richard Winter reckons could be the fastest for 20 years.

Bring them on, smiles Vaughan. "You know, I'd be disappointed if I didn't get that," he reckoned after spending a day getting an earbashing from the Aussie fielders once he'd famously refused to walk on 19 during his Adelaide masterpiece.

What remains so warming about this easy-going fellow is his evident relish for the battle. If he can continue to infuriate the crowds with his continued serenity, they might actually leave poor Beefy alone beneath his brolly.