Michael Vaughan Quotations

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.

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 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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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,

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 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.

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 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 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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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 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.

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'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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

You have to keep building and it's so important we keep getting young players pushing the team and making sure everybody stays honest,

We've been talking about psychological advantages and disadvantages throughout the whole summer,

We will test it on Monday and make a decision after the training session.

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

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.

We go to Pakistan and India and if we win, the rankings might change but we haven't looked at the rankings, we want to beat Australia this summer.

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.

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 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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

You need guts above all against the Aussies.

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

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.

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 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,

They're young and they do enjoy their cricket,

There were plenty of nerves in the dressing room,

This is the most exciting part of the winter and South Africa are a good team who will provide a good test for us.

It's a summer I'm looking forward to, because we're playing against the best team there has ever been

It's a big game for all of us,

It's a bit of a lottery but we played some good cricket. Today was our day. I don't think it will have any impact on the five-day matches to come.

It's a great opportunity if Simon isn't fit for someone to make a name for themselves. Chris Tremlett has been in the squad and he has a great opportunity to show what he can do in the final.

It's a great opportunity for the three guys who haven't played much Test cricket.

It's a different type of cricket and we're going to have to be at our best to get used to the conditions quickly.

It proved a huge motivation for the team,

It's nonsense. I hope to play for a long time yet.

For James to bowl as well as he did on his debut was fantastic. It was a good a toss to win, but we exploited the conditions fantastically.

For everyone's good it's important that I get it sorted and come back fit and strong in the summer.

It's the second time in two tours that I'm going to be traveling home with an injury. This one is really similar to the one in Pakistan. Unfortunately the workload has increased on this trip and the knee hasn't withstood that. It's time to go back and see the specialist, do whatever we can and make sure I come back fitter.

It's obviously disappointing to lose Giles who is our most experienced spinner.

It's the first net and it was nice to pick up a bat again. It's early days and I'm just getting used to jogging again. I'm just hoping for a bit of luck now.