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'We fought all the way' - Vaughan

Pakistan won the battle of the new-look sides on Tuesday, beating England by two wickets

Wisden CricInfo staff
18-Jun-2003
Pakistan won the battle of the new-look sides on Tuesday, beating England by two wickets. Michael Vaughan, captaining England for the first time, remained upbeat despite the defeat. Rashid Latif, meanwhile, was cautiously euphoric. Here's what they had to say:
Michael Vaughan
On his first match as England captain It was a fantastic game but after getting first use of that wicket we were probably 30 or 40 runs short. We showed some inexperience in the middle period but the character and fight in the field was fantastic. It set a benchmark - that's got to be the standard from now on. We fought all the way to the end but Pakistan were the better team on the night.
It was disappointing to lose but there were a lot of positives. In two of the three disciplines we performed very well. The character and fight we showed in the field, bowling slower balls and making them fight all the way, was very encouraging. We'll have a couple of meetings to discuss where we went wrong and try to put it right for Friday.
On his batsmen We let ourselves down with the batting, because we have a lot of inexperience in there. These lads are going to make mistakes, and there were a few guys making their debuts out there. A few of us made 20s and 30s, and if one of us had gone on I am sure we would have made 230 plus - which would have been a very good total on that wicket.
On his bowlers We have a lot of inexperience with the ball too, but the way we pushed them right to the end was great. Obviously having Goughie back on the field helps but they all showed character.
On Anderson To have to bowl his last five or six overs from one end at the death was tremendous. James struggled early on but came back very well. I always had him in mind, because I know he is a special talent who can get you wickets - and that is what we needed.
On Andy Flintoff batting at No. 5 We have given Freddie the opportunity to make himself into that extra batsman, and there were signs from him in this match that he can be part of our gameplan for years to come.
Rashid Latif
'The Young Guns' The credit [ for the win] goes to the young guns of Pakistan. We enjoy playing here - it's like playing at Lahore or Karachi. Last time we played a Test match here we won so we have good memories.
On chasing The target was not big enough, but because of the lights batting second it became difficult. If the match had been played in the day we would have won easily.