It is bigger than the cup final.League 2 playoff final Shrewsbury Town v Bristol Rovers,i am doing live commentary on local independent radio.

Sunday is league 1 Blackpool v Yeovil and on Monday it is the richest game in football between WBA and Derby County for a place in the Premiership.

What a good decision by the umpire giving cook out lbw to Gayle off the last ball before lunch,i can think of a few umpires who wouldn't have given it but it was plumb.

91-2 at lunch then with Vaughan 25*

Vaughan has cruised to 77, and is justifying his re-call after injury. KP also playing well, as always.. England having a very good day 192-2

Vaughan out for 103, hasn't been the greatest knock but it's a ton nonetheless. Welcome back Vaughany.

Collingwood isn't looking too comfortable against the shorter ball - I bet he's glad KP keeps putting him on strike! Against this bowling attack I expect Pietersen to get past his bogey score of 158. At the third time of asking.

England 258/3.

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"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose."
- Ayrton Senna

At the close of play , England are 366 for 5
Just heard on TMS that Sarwan is on the way to hospital with a dodgy shoulder

Vaughan's century flatters to decieve and it's the worst thing that could happen to English long term cricket and shows how poor the WI bowling attack really is.


My grannie could score a hundred against that attack with a wet stick of rhubarb

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I have a dream.... (Martin Luther King)

I think you'll find that's Boycott's grandmother.

True, the Windies bowling attack is below what it by rights should be, but I would say that Vaughan's century is a good thing for English cricket. Not only does it show that Vaughan at least has retained some of his quality over the last eighteen months, but it also increases the competition between himself, Strauss, Cook, Bell, Pietersen, Collingwood, and to a lesser extent Shah and Flintoff. I would say that should make things a bit better.

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"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose."
- Ayrton Senna

Well said. Competition can only be a good thing. And if Freddie ever gets fit one of those batters will have to go if we play 5 bowlers they realise that are so are all fighting for a place.

I dont know why people are downrating Vaughans knock, there were some excellant shots in it and if it were so easy to score a century today then why didnt Cook, Strauss, Bell or Collingwood??

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Mark.

Seen it too many times, scores a hundred and is back to mediocrity soon after. I agree with Richard - Vaughan is a backward step. The guy has been pretty much guarenteed his spot in the team, despite not being available for 18 months. When he breaks down again will we still be waiting long amounts of time for him? When he continues to average in the 30's as captain, will we still say he warrents a place in the team as a batsman?

The stats show that Vaughan is a test class batsman.

An average of over 43, 16 hundreds form 65 matches. Compare that to his predecessers Hussain, Stewart, Atherton, Gooch and you'll see his record as a batsman (pro rata) and captain is better than them all.

Now that his knee seems OK he may well hit the from he did a few years ago.

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Mark.

I couldn't agree more. Class is permanent and Vaughan has it in abundance. There is no more attractive batsman in England to watch than Vaughan in full flow. Why are people so down on the fact that a class player is scoring runs? He is certainly no backward step in my view. His innings today was a mental triumph - sure, he was nervous to start with, I reckon that's excusable, but when his footwork became as natural as breathing to him then his knock was a joy to watch.