Vaughan to press Test claims

Vaughan: needs runs

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Michael Vaughan will be given the remainder of the season to force his way into England's winter tour plans.

The former skipper, 33, has returned to county action with Yorkshire in an effort to prove his worth for the Test leg of England's trip to India.

He has so far failed to set the county scene alight, making 10 and nought against Kent at Scarborough and now has a maximum of six further championship innings to impress.

England are to give him more time to justify his selection by delaying the announcement about the Test squad until the end of the season.

The selectors are next week due to announce the squads for the trip to Antigua to play in the multi-million dollar Stanford match and the seven-match one-day series in India, after considering performances during the 4-0 NatWest series triumph over South Africa.

But their deliberations for the Test squad are on-going to give Vaughan and other contenders an extended opportunity to stake their claims.

"It would seem fair to let everybody play," confirmed England coach Peter Moores.

"We've got a few people out there playing for form so it makes sense to get the Stanford and one-day squad announced over the next week and then sit down and announce the Test squad towards the end of the county season."

Resignation

Vaughan ended his five-year reign as England's Test captain following the third Test defeat to South Africa at the start of August, a result that secured the series for the Proteas.

During a tearful resignation press conference he confirmed a desire to continue his international career back in the ranks as a batsman and vowed to find form in county cricket following a summer-long slump.

Vaughan's ability to withstand challenges from players like Owais Shah, Ravi Bopara, Robert Key and Joe Denly will be the major talking point for the selectors when they pick the Test squad, but the one-day party seems a more straightforward choice.

The outstanding performances in the five-match one-day series against South Africa have almost picked the 13-man squad to travel to Antigua and India, although Moores and the selectors may consider other candidates over the next few days.

"With people playing so well it makes selection easier but to be fair to everybody it's important we go away and let the dust settle and look through it all," added Moores.

"There have been a lot of lads working very hard in domestic cricket to put themselves forward as well, but when you have a successful side and create a winning environment there's a lot of emphasis on keeping that and those players because they've successful at the moment."

Having dominated South Africa in every match until the last, when rain washed out play after just three overs at Cardiff's SWALEC Stadium, Moores and England will enter their break on a high having been propelled to third in the world rankings.

Gruelling

But they face another stiff test of their development during a gruelling series in India, when they will embark on seven matches in 19 days all in different venues.

"I'm excited by this side," said Moores. "It looks good on paper, it looks like it's repeatable and the formula looks right - it's got the ingredients to be successful.

"It has been successful to start with and we've got another really tough test in India in different conditions and if we can come through that and win that series then we really will have made a mark.

"There's not as much change between the two sides as there was and the captain is the same and what we're trying to do is keep the environment the same.

"When you get belief and success in a team you want that to ride through both sides.

"We've been successful in one-day cricket with this side first and what we're hoping is that we can take that momentum into Test match cricket.

"We won the one-day series in Sri Lanka with a very young team last year and we're going to be taking a stronger team to India so if we can deliver there as well that would be two sub-continent wins in one-day cricket in a row, which would be a real plus.

"We know playing Test matches in India are historically very difficult to score the runs and get them out so that's going to be a really hard test for us.

"We want to have a strong first half to the winter so we can back that up with a good series against West Indies in the new year."