Vaughan defiant as England's run ends

Michael Vaughan is confident England have the character to bounce straight back after their unbeaten run came to a shuddering halt here today.

Vaughan's team, unbeaten through 13 games in 2004, lost the Third Test against South Africa by 196 runs and will go to Johannesburg next week with the five-match series all square at 1-1.

"The series is there for us to win and I think we've got a great chance," said Vaughan. "We are certainly good enough players to do it and I've got a huge amount of faith and confidence in the characters in our team.

"It's disappointing to lose but there are two games to go and we fully expect to perform better.

"We've played some great cricket over the past 12 months and we've lost one game. I don't think we should jump to too many huge conclusions."

Just about the only bright note for England today came when key allrounder Andrew Flintoff was told that he should be fit enough to bowl in next week's Fourth Test despite a side injury.

"He's fine and will be going into the Johannesburg Test as fit as he went into this one," insisted Vaughan.