Michael Vaughan Quotations

On our last tour of India, we came close to winning.

She just said she'd been watching the Ashes and she couldn't watch it all because it got too nerve-wracking, and I said so it was for us as well.

Simon Jones bowled exceptionally well in the first innings, so after losing him, the bowlers in the second innings deserve a lot of credit, ... They kept running in on a placid wicket that was really very slow. We had to use all our resources to whittle out those ten wickets and restrict them to a total where we only had to chase 130.

He just controlled everything in a measured fashion although he obviously had harsh words to say in the sanctuary of the dressing room. His team on the field always appeared to have a huge amount of respect for him.

I found it odd and childish, the kind of thing you'd say in the playground,

I can't possibly set a date as to when I will play again but I want to try to get my career back as quickly as I can. I couldn't play to my full potential in Pakistan and I certainly couldn't allow that to happen on this trip.

I don't think anyone who watched the previous matches would have come today and expected England to stroll to 130,

From that moment on my relationship with Smith became very frosty,

I have a lot of respect for him, he is doing a good job with the South Africa team. We just had a bit of a fall-out last winter. These things happen.

To get an MBE is just something special and it is an awesome feeling.

He was a great player, captain of his country, and he's the king of the microphone.

He looks to have a good physique for bowling, he can bat as well and he's a good fielder. Hopefully he'll have a good career ahead of him,

He is obviously a big blow, but we would rather not talk about it. We will respect his privacy.

My warmest congratulations to you, the England cricket team and all in the squad for the magnificent achievement of regaining the Ashes.

Marcus left the tour, had a few problems and an illness, now let's look forward.

Spin hasn't bowled many teams out here. We'll make a decision pretty late.

Spin's going to play a big part, but we've come up with a formula to tackle India's slow wickets.

Steve produced one of the greatest spells of bowling by an England player,

I suppose he has the chance to kind of shove it down our throats and prove us wrong to drop him,

My next biggest challenge is to survive another night with Freddie.

It is important, with winter approaching, that the plight of those needing blankets and tents in the earthquake zone is not forgotten,

It is an amazing feeling. It has been a roller-coaster of a summer. The lads have put a whole lot of hard work in.

Our bowlers put in an outstanding effort in the field. It was not an easy pitch to bat on, but they still put the ball in the right areas.

I think the newspaper headline might have over-exaggerated the comments in the book,

It is obviously disappointing to lose Ashley Giles, our most experienced spin bowler. At the same time, it is a great opportunity for the three guys here.

It certainly gave you a feeling that the Ashes mean so much to so many people and the nation, to see people hanging out of the windows at work, to see kids waving in the streets certainly tells me that the game of cricket has hit home.

I thought we started the Test match at Lord's very well and for a day and a half we were good and then Australia took the game away from us - we've got to make sure we keep our performance levels up for a sustained period of play.

I was obsessing. All leaders go through that. It was a very intense summer. We were on the brink of doing something special. It was like being a general on the eve of battle.

We'll do well to learn from our defeats in Pakistan, we aim to move ahead.

Thoughts of going home won't be taking over my thoughts I can assure you. We have a travel day tomorrow and prepare on Tuesday for Wednesday's match. It was a poor performance and we have to lift ourselves for the next one.

We have had no discussions on Sri Lanka, ... We're here to play cricket. We're not here to talk about these things. There are other people who will decide.

We can't go anywhere without people wishing us luck. It's great to know that the nation will be right behind us when we take on the Aussies.

You can blame a long schedule and a long series but we won't be trying to make that an excuse,

That's the order you are going to see for the next few matches.

We need to test our skills in Pakistan and India. If we play good cricket over there, I'm sure the rankings will change.

We're all a bit elated but obviously I'm delighted to win the game. It was crucial to get those five wickets to level the series. We will enjoy the moment but we realize it's still only 1-1.

We do think we might play on some spinner-friendly pitches, especially because of our attack. We will just have to come up with our best formula to get 20 wickets to put India under pressure.

We have a good idea of what they're going to come up with, we've got a lot of footage and a lot of players have played against them.

We've got players who haven't played in the subcontinent and it does take a while to get used to the surreal conditions out there,

We have played to win throughout the series and will certainly be doing that again,

We hear he's fast but we haven't faced him. Until you've faced someone it's very difficult to know how you'll respond. It's his debut and he's bound to be nervous.

We want to have a good long chat with Freddie. It's his home ground, he knows the conditions. Over the last year or so we haven't played that much here. We want to look at the options - normal swing, reverse swing, bounce, all the areas you cover at any game of cricket. We'll just have a good chat this afternoon.

We haven't been to the sub-continent and won yet. If we play good cricket over there, I'm sure the rankings will change.

To beat Australia you need to have a good team performance but you also need individual brilliance,

We won't know until a ball has been bowled on it,

We want to be sure that if we decide to play with one spinner then Giles is feeling good about himself.

There are not many draws between these two teams because of the manner in which both play the game.

The real test will come when I start running, twisting and bowling but I am confident I will be on the plane for India next month.

We have been on the ropes for three games and the final knock-out blow was today. You can only keep taking so many punches, but we could not withstand any more.

We would not have wanted to go there 2-0 down. Now we have a bit of momentum and who knows what might happen.

We were below par here but there are still two big games to go. Our batting is a concern but we go to Johannesburg looking to win the series.

Whether or not he was sent in by their coach I'm not too sure. But I just call him 'the witness' now and I don't think he likes it.

We are looking forward to the challenge. If we can keep pushing a little bit further, I am sure we can get another opportunity to win.

Cricket has captured the imagination of the nation, this if fantastic, beyond a dream. When England players win at any sport, the fans are the best in the world.

What is most important is we enjoy what is given to us and thrown at us over the next few weeks,

We felt Chris has kept well but he hasn't made the runs we had hoped for, ... He's had eight matches on tour without really contributing with the bat.

With Leeds, you always know there is going to be a good game of cricket,

We were excellent in the field but then they hit us hard with the new ball,

The players deserve everything which comes their way.

We will just do as we have done in the last few games. We'll just treat this match as we have done the last few games. We've been outstanding since Lord's and I don't see any reason why we should change our thinking and our approach to the game.

We've not won here for 21 years, that should come as an incentive to the boys.

The right decision now is to get things sorted out fully and make sure that when I come back I'm able to play a full part. In Pakistan I felt I couldn't play to my full potential because of the knee and I certainly wasn't going to allow that to happen on this trip.

It was an epic game. Australia are a very hard team to beat.

Very good, terrific imagination. The key to the series was the England bowlers and with the way that they have performed, he has been able to attack and defend as he chooses.

Various ways have been suggested to counter him, ... such as batting out of the crease, standing on off stump, or even taking a chance by having a go at him. But attacking him is very difficult when he bowls as he did at Lord's. We have all worked very hard this week and there are various new plans, areas to work on and shots to play.

We will probably leave it until the last minute to see which way we go,

The one-day team is a little bit below the Test team at the minute, but we are building for 2007 and the World Cup. As a team and players, we had a lot of self-belief that we could turn things around (after first Test defeat at Lord's), and we also have a lot of self-belief we can do very well in the World Cup come 2007.

The momentum is with us because we've just won,

South Africa played the better cricket over the five day and put us under a lot of pressure,

Australia have been beating teams home and away for a long time,

That's just Nasser for you. He fights really hard when people have a dig at him. He's had great input into the team and it was a really important innings for us.

They're young and they do enjoy their cricket,

People say to stay in the same seat but we were losing that many wickets there was not a right seat to be in,

England fans are very clever and have special ways of getting tickets and I'm sure we'll be well supported in Australia.

The response the public has given us throughout the whole summer means I am not too sure cricket will ever get to the same level again.

The players will have to make some technical changes to do well after their win at home.

This is the biggest challenge yet and can we go out and play in similar fashion when we're 2-1 up? I don't see any reason why they shouldn't with the way they've prepared,

You need guts above all against the Aussies.

This is going to be a challenging series for us playing in different conditions,

This is so special to come to the palace, meeting the queen here and being here with all the rest of the boys.

This is probably the first time the knee has felt like a concern. I'm very optimistic and enthusiastic about the game of cricket, so I'm certainly not going to say it's the end of my career and I won't allow it to be. There's been older and better players than me that have spent years out of cricket with injury and come back pretty well, so, hopefully, I'll be the same.

I'm sure there will come a stage where the players would like to hear a different voice and like to have a different direction. I'll stay for as long as they want me.

I'm sure they will put us under a lot of pressure, but it's good to know that we've faced them before,

I'm thrilled. I'm proud of this team. If we'd gone 2-0 down in the series, against a team like Australia, we couldn't have come back from there.

Individuals always take a little bit more stick than others, but Ashley has been a fantastic performer,

I'm baffled by the international standard of cricket

I'm confident. I believe I've done the right work at home. Hopefully it will go well and I will score a few runs and take it from there.

I had an injection on Wednesday night, tested it at nets yesterday and am going to monitor it over the next 48 hours.

I had a light net today to test out the knee but it is still too early to say whether the injection has had an effect and we will just have to wait and see how it responds over the next 48 hours.

If you've beaten the leading team once, you can beat them again -- that's the next challenge.

I fully expected two more hard days of cricket, but I said before the match that it needed a couple of magical performances and, thankfully for us, Steve produced one today.

That is what it is going to take to stay in the team.

The knee is all right. It's been four weeks since the operation. I've done rehab and I've just started running indoors on soft surfaces in the last few days. You need a little bit of luck but if that stays with me I'm sure I will be fine for the tour.

It's very hard to find a like for like replacement for Simon because the way's he's bowling, he's right up there with the best in the world at the moment.

I just feel unfit to play cricket at the moment though I'd want to be available for both forms of the game. One of my ambitions is to go with England to the World Cup and do very well, which we haven't done for a long time. Of course I'd compromise if the specialists recommended that I give up one-day cricket.

But we are proud to have beaten a very good India side. We have improved in leaps and bounds and we hope to take this form into the Champions Trophy.

Geraint Jones is a very, very impressive character,

He's a huge member of our team and without him in the last year we wouldn't have won a lot of the games so he'll continue to be a big player for us.

It was a fantastic game of cricket and we came within a wicket of going 2-1 up. I'm very pleased with the team and the way we dominated the whole match against a tough Australian side. Three weeks ago we were written off and 5-0 we kept hearing. There are a few tired bodies and minds on both teams but it's great the way this series has got the nation talking about it.

They were three fantastic deliveries which got the first three wickets. We said to the lads just hang in there, try and make them get us out,