Pre-final Press Conference, England v West Indies
"I expected us to win games if cricket, but I certainly didn't expect to win 10 out of 11 test matches
16-Aug-2005
Michael VAUGHAN (ENG) - Captain
On pre-season expectations:
"I expected us to win games if cricket, but I certainly didn't expect to win 10 out of 11 test matches. Going into this tournament I was confident we could progress and play well in the tournament."
On reaching the final:
"There was a nice air of confidence going into Tuesday's game, where we had the belief that we could beat the Australians. Getting to the final is something that is great, but to be honest we expected to be somewhere near it because we felt we played well against India and the wins against India gave us a lot of confidence going into the tournament."
On the team's performances:
"The consistency that the team has showed has been pleasing. Winning game after game is very, very difficult on the mental side more than anything. I can't speak highly enough of the team and the effort they've put in."
On the ICC Champions Trophy:
"It's the second biggest one day tournament in the world after the World Cup. Being in our home country makes it a little bit more special. A final is a final so it's a massive occasion for the team."
On their preparations for the final:
"It's something to try to achieve, but we not going into tomorrow's game treating it any differently to what we have done the last few weeks. We'll just try to relive the performances we've given and if we can do that I'm sure we can put the West Indies under some pressure."
On team changes since the Nat West Series:
"We felt we needed a bit more athleticism in the field and a bit more depth in our batting. We feel that Vikram SOLANKI and Alex WHARF have given us both those credentials. We've still got to play well, but I feel we've played good one day cricket over the last five weeks and in the summer we didn't play well enough."