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Threat lies ahead: Vaughan

Life would be difficult against India, says the England captain

FILE PHOTO: AFP

RAISE THE BAR: Michael Vaughan seems to be telling his teammates as they prepare for the series against India. —

London: It looked like a stroll in the park as England blanked the West Indies in the recent Test series, but life would be difficult against India, host captain Michael Vaughan warned his teammates.

Back in the side after a nagging knee injury that kept him out of action for a whole year, Vaughan refused to bask in the glory of the 3-0 win against the West Indies and felt his side would need to raise the bar if it was to beat Rahul Dravid’s men in the three-match Test series.

“They bring a batting line-up that’s formidable and full of experience.”

“They have quality bowlers — there are a couple of left-armers (R.P. Singh and Zaheer Khan) and the young Sreesanth — who I think is a real quality seamer — and (Anil) Kumble with all his experience,” Vaughan said in an interview with Sky Sports.

“They will pose probably a little bit of a bigger threat than the West Indies.

“We might have to raise our bar just a little bit to ensure we get a good series victory against the Indians,” added Vaughan.

Wary of middle-order

The Yorkshire batsman also sounded wary of Team India’s middle order, which sports an aged look with the trio of Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly being on the wrong side of the 30.

“You’ve got no chance of getting me to say Sachin Tendulkar is ageing,” Vaughan said.

Vaughan said he was looking forward to an exciting series played between two quality sides in electrifying atmosphere.

“It should be a great series as they always bring plenty of supporters, there are plenty of Indians living in England, and they always cram the grounds and make plenty of noise.

“It should be a great atmosphere for our team to play in,” Vaughan said.

Lord’s hosts the first Test, which starts from July 19, while Trent Bridge (July 27-31) and the Oval (August 9-13) are the venues for the subsequent matches.

Bothamspeak

Meanwhile, Sir Ian Botham feels England’s pace attack needed to be more aggressive as the cricket team goes into the “sterner Test of their revival” against India.

“England’s Test side has rebooted promisingly since the Ashes horror show. But sterner Tests of their revival under new coach Peter Moores lie ahead against India, starting at Lord’s on Thursday,” Botham said.

The legendary all-rounder praised coach Moores for his job during the series against the West Indies, but said the fast bowlers needed to be consistent and more aggressive.

“Although there were some cheap runs and wickets on offer at times against the West Indies, I have no problem with England’s 3-0 win in the Test series and Moores scores high marks there.

Need to be aggressive

“Some of our pace bowling will need to be more aggressive and consistent when India’s formidable top order comes to town,” he was quoted as saying by the Daily Mirror on Tuesday.

Botham, however, lashed out at the one-day side, saying they could not have given a worse performance than what they put up against the West Indies.

“And as for the one-day team... we are still bloody woeful. England’s one-day cricket is another kettle of fish, however. I didn’t think it was possible for them to play any worse than they did at the World Cup, but somehow they managed to by losing the NatWest Series against the Windies.

Let’s not mince words: We are going backwards and sliding down towards the bottom of the pile. Right now, England’s level of performance in limited overs cricket is so bad the Eskimos would beat us... our whole approach is embarrassing.” — PTI

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