Committed to PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO KNOW
Vol. 5 Num 1064 Wed. May 30, 2007  
   
Sports


Win pleases Vaughan


Michael Vaughan praised his side's "ruthless" performance after they beat West Indies by an innings and 283 runs at Headingley here Monday, a result that saw him become the joint most successful England captain of all-time.

Victory saw Vaughan draw level with Peter May's record of 20 wins as England captain in a match where West Indies suffered their biggest Test innings loss.

The win put England 1-0 up in the four-match series and was a personal triumph for Vaughan, playing his first Test after 18 months out with injury.

Vaughan, 32, scored 103 on his Yorkshire home ground in England's huge total of 570 for seven declared which also featured Kevin Pietersen's Test-best 226.

West Indies then collapsed to 146 all out, and following on, were bowled out for 141 on the fourth day after the whole of the third day's play had been washed out.

Left-arm quick Ryan Sidebottom, playing his first Test in six years since making his debut was the pick of England's attack with match figures of eight for 86 on his old home ground where he played for Yorkshire until 2004 before joining Nottinghamshire.

"I thought we played to a very good standard," Vaughan told reporters. "We got on top of the West Indies on that very first day. We were ruthless and got the job done.

"When you win by an innings and plenty, it's quite a big defeat for the opposition, but we're only 1-0 up with two to play. We've got to do exactly the same in a week's time at Old Trafford (where the third Test starts on June 7)."

Turning to his old county colleague, Vaughan added: "Ryan was exceptional from his first ball, offered great angles with his left-arm variety. Certainly didn't swing it like that when he was at Yorkshire a few years ago."

Sidebottom was only playing because of Matthew Hoggard's thigh injury but Vaughan said this performance could be the springboard for a successful international career.

"Ryan showed this week he can handle the pressure," Vaughan said.

"He got conditions that suited his style of bowling, but you've still got to produce the goods. He did it to a very very high standard.

"He'll be a real threat to all batsmen if he can reproduce that kind of performance on a regular basis."

Meanwhile West Indies coach David Moore was disappointed by the way the match ended, the tourists losing their last three wickets for no runs in eight balls when they were without captain Ramnaresh Sarwan, who didn't bat in this match after sustaining a potentially tour-ending injury while fielding.

"I think it was ugly in the end -- it looked like a pretty meek surrender," said Moore, who replaced fellow Australian Bennett King after hosts West Indies failed to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup.

"They've got to get to a point where they realise we have to play for five days -- and they need to bat the whole way through.

"We saw England do it, and twice we couldn't. It is important to be able to occupy the crease."

Meanwhile, Moore said it was too soon to say if Sarwan would play any further part in the tour.

"We'll assess Ronnie's fitness in the next day or so and will then make a decision about what he's going to be doing over next few weeks."

But he was more confident about the fitness of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the side's senior batsman, who missed this match because of a knee injury.

"We hope 'Shivvy' will be right for the next Test -- and we think he will."