Vaughan's magic can break spell

New Zealand are not far away from holding a head count to work out whether they can field 11 fit players tomorrow.

Batsman Craig McMillan is hoping to make himself available despite a broken left little finger, genuine all- rounder Jacob Oram has been discounted as a bowler because of a s ide strain and express paceman Shane Bond remains a frustrated onlooker after failing to recover from a stress fracture of the back. But the Kiwis are seldom more dangerous than when they look down and virtually out.

England can confirm that the line on their performance graph is heading upwards all the while by quelling any threat of a fightback. Vaughan's return from the knee injury that kept him out of the Lord's Test could not be more timely.

He may feel rusty, having had only a brief outing against Scotland last weekend to rediscover a bit of touch and timing. And it is hard to see how the captain can be more successful in the middle order than he has been as an opener.

But without Hussain, who averaged 47 in his last seven Test innings at Headingley, England need Vaughan's home ground experience.

If the fairytale continues Andrew Strauss will carry on what he was doing at Lord's before Hussain ran him out when a second century on his debut seemed inevitable.

"I'm realistic enough to know I'm going to have good days and bad days," said Strauss. "But the only way for me to succeed is to continue working hard on my game."

At least Strauss does not have any pre-conceived ideas of what may be waiting at a ground that, over the years, has given a good many batsmen a good many nightmares.

"I've never played a first-class match at Headingley so I suppose I haven't got any memories of the ground - which is probably better than having bad memories," said the Middlesex left-hander. "By all accounts the Test pitch has played reasonably well in recent years."

So well, that in 2002 India scored 628 for eight declared with Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly all making centuries.

England's bowling then was nothing to write home about. 3-It was better, initially, 12 months ago as South Africa plunged to 21 for four. But the discipline which has become a feature of the attack just lately disappeared and, once again, the visitors eventually triumphed.

The belief now is that England are good enough to produce a measured performance with bat and ball, whatever conditions Headingley manages to serve up.