Vaughan feels pressure on West Indies could help

Bristol: England captain Michael Vaughan insisted his side would have no problem bouncing back for Tuesday’s vital NatWest series triangular match versus the West Indies at Lord’s despite their latest defeat to New Zealand.

Victory, with a bonus point, in their last pool game would see England into the Lord’s final of this one-day event against New Zealand on Saturday.

But any sort of defeat would end England’s hopes after New Zealand qualified, thanks to a convincing six-wicket win against Vaughan’s men here Sunday.

However, the opening batsman told reporters after that defeat: “This one we’ve just lost was, almost, not irrelevant because they are all important games. But we knew that had we even beaten the Black Caps, we could still be knocked out if we lose to the West Indies.”

England beat the West Indies by seven wickets when the sides last met in the tournament in Leeds Thursday. But the West Indies, on June 27 at Trent Bridge, defeated England by the same margin.

And if they avoid a bonus point reverse Tuesday, the West Indies could still qualify if they beat New Zealand Thursday at the Rose Bowl in the last pool game of the tournament.

“It’s a massive game. We must try to emulate the performance at Leeds,” Vaughan said. However, Vaughan insisted England would not worry about the bonus point. “We’ll just try to win. If you try to be clever, you might come unstuck.”

But the 29-year-old Yorkshire batsman added he hoped England could exploit any frailties in a West Indies team beaten convincingly by five-wickets by New Zealand at Cardiff Saturday. “It’s important we just go out and put some pressure on the West Indies early to see if they have got any cobwebs from the other day because they did suffer a heavy defeat.”

England’s latest loss was the tenth time in a row they’d lost a one-day International when they’d batted first.

However, they did post 237 for seven — their best total of the tournament — with all-rounder Andrew Flintoff’s 106 his maiden one-day International hundred.

And Vaughan insisted: “Confidence is pretty high. I thought the performance Saturday was pretty good. The toss was quite important. To get 237, we were quite happy with that total.”

New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming made 99 and took the game away from England in an opening stand of 122 with Nathan Astle who scored 53. However, Vaughan took heart from Flintoff’s innings, the 25-year-old Lancashire all-rounder reaching three figures in a one-day International for the first time in what was his 73rd match.

“It was a fantastic knock. He’s becoming a true, proper cricketer. He’s reading the game, playing with vast amounts of knowledge of the game and playing in a proper manner.”

But Flintoff is currently unable to bowl because of an ankle injury sustained in last month’s third Test whitewash-clinching win against New Zealand at Trent Bridge.