Vaughan's lucky ground

England captain Michael Vaughan returns to the scene of one of the most significant events of his cricket career as his team seek to turn around their fortunes in the second Test against South Africa at Edgbaston starting on Wednesday.Vaughan is under pressure, with his team trailing 1-0 in the four-match series and his own batting form under scrutiny after he scored only 23 runs in three innings in the first two Tests.But it was at the same ground against the same opponents five years ago that Vaughan hit a masterly 156 and soon afterwards became England's Test captain when Nasser Hussain resigned after the match.The first Test of 2003 is remembered chiefly for a powerful batting performance by South African captain Graeme Smith, who made a South African record score of 277 after sharing a 338-run opening stand with Herschelle Gibbs.After South Africa's massive 594 for five declared, England needed at least one batsman to play a major innings to insure them against defeat in a rain-hit match. Vaughan provided it.It was also at Edgbaston that England snatched a two-run win over Australia in 2005, after losing the first Test, on the way to winning the Ashes.Further encouragement for Vaughan is that South African fast bowler Dale Steyn, who dismissed him for two in the first Test at Lord's and two in the second match at Headingley, has been ruled out because of a broken left thumb.Vaughan was held at least partly responsible for the selection debacle at Headingley where England opted for a five-man bowling attack which included the almost unknown England-born but Australian-raised Darren Pattinson, a move which Vaughan admitted had unsettled his team.Pattinson was not included when England named a 13-man squad for Edgbaston but England still face a selection dilemma.Left-arm swing bowler Ryan Sidebottom, whose injury-enforced absence led to Pattinson's call-up, is expected to return to the side but England have to decide whether to go in with four or five bowlers. If they opt for the latter it will again mean no place for Paul Collingwood.A more likely option seems to be a recall for Collingwood and a four-man attack, which would probably mean that fast bowler Steve Harmison, named in an England squad for the first time since being dropped in New Zealand in March, would not make the starting line-up.Another likely casualty is Stuart Broad, whose performances as a bowler have not matched his achievements as a lower-order batsman in the first two Tests.

Source : Afp, Birmingham