Time for Vaughan to inspire another fightback

Lord's and Trent Bridge, South Africa 2003
Vaughan's first Test as captain was less of a baptism and more of a drowning. Nasser Hussain's abrupt abdication after the drawn first Test at Edgbaston gave the new incumbent just two days to get used to his new role, and Vaughan looked as ill-fitting as the navy blue England cap that he would soon trade in for his more familiar sun-hat. A first-day batting collapse gifted South Africa every modicum of momentum, and Vaughan's opposite number, Graeme Smith, capitalised to thrilling effect. After his 277 in the first Test, Smith followed up with 259 in the second, to secure a monstrous lead of 509. England showed more spine second-time around, with Andrew Flintoff shattering his bat during a memorably hard-hitting 142, but Makhaya Ntini's ten-wicket haul sealed a very famous win.

Ten days later, and England were back with renewed intent, although their eventual 70-run victory owed every bit as much to Vaughan's correct call at the toss as it did to James Kirtley's sterling six-wicket haul on debut. First-innings runs made the difference between victory and defeat on a damaged pitch that crumbled alarmingly as the match went on, and centuries from Hussain and Mark Butcher took England to 445. James Anderson's second five-wicket haul of the series gave England a lead of 83 - which was put into perspective when Shaun Pollock snaffled 6 for 39 in England's second-innings total of 118. By now the two-layered surface had shifted like the San Andreas Fault, and Kirtley ensured that South Africa never came close to their target of 202.

Headingley and The Oval, South Africa 2003
Three days later, and South Africa still seemed to be smarting from their defeat as they lost their first four wickets inside 15 overs on a traditional Headingley greentop. Kirtley and the long-lost Martin Bicknell grabbed both openers in the space of eight balls but Gary Kirsten remained to compile arguably the finest of his 21 Test centuries. He found improbable support from the debutant seamer, Monde Zondeki, who made 59 at No. 9, and from an indomitable position, England ended up surrendering a lead of 35. Andrew Hall's unbeaten 99 built on that slender advantage, and Jacques Kallis polished off all resistance with 6 for 54.

And so the two teams headed for The Oval, for the match in which Vaughan's England finally showed their true colours. The game could hardly have started any less auspiciously, however, as South Africa hurtled to 362 for 4 on the first day, thanks to Herschelle Gibbs' 183. Two late dismissals redressed the imbalance a touch, but even when South Africa collapsed to 484 the following day, the damage appeared to have been done. Enter Marcus Trescothick, whose career-best 219 brought England back to parity, in partnership with the recalled Graham Thorpe, before Flintoff flayed a tiring attack in what was, to date, his greatest Test innings. He added 99 in 18 overs with Steve Harmison, who finished on 6 not out, as England declared on 604 for 9. The following day a demoralised South Africa were rolled over for 229, with Harmison taking 4 for 33, and England rattled to a nine-wicket win in an hour-and-a-half of full-throttle batting.

Colombo v Sri Lanka and Kingston v West Indies, 2003-04
England still hadn't quite got their game-plan nailed when they set off for a tough tour of the subcontinent. A tricky but successful tour of Bangladesh was followed by three back-to-back Tests against Sri Lanka in which Vaughan tried but failed to ape Hussain's attritional approach of three years earlier. After clinging onto draws in the first two matches, thanks to heroic last-day batting efforts, they ran out of steam by the final fixture and tumbled to defeat by an innings and 215 runs - the third heaviest in their history. It was a watershed for the team. Never again would they let discretion be the better part of valour, and the stage was set for the most successful spell in England's history.

After a three-month break over Christmas, England set off for the Caribbean, where they had not won a series for 36 years. In the first Test at Kingston, they unveiled for the first time a five-man attack that would become rather familiar over the next 18 months - Harmison, Flintoff, Matthew Hoggard, Simon Jones and Ashley Giles. By the end of the Test, one man in particular had attained superstar status. For the first three days the match was balanced on a knife-edge, with England sneaking a lead of 28, but then Harmison hurtled into overdrive. In an incredible spell of spring-heeled hostility, he took 7 for 12 in 11.3 overs, routing West Indies for 47. And then there was no looking back.

Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa 2004-05
Everyone remembers 2005, but few people recall quite how inauspiciously it began. After a incredible run of 11 wins in 12 matches, England's momentum hit the buffers when South Africa were saved by bad light in the Boxing Day Test at Durban. Three days and a New Year party later, England were back in the field at Newlands, chasing leather in the baking sun as Kallis batted their resolve to oblivion. A 196-run defeat was the upshot, a margin that would have been even more emphatic had Harmison not top-scored from No. 11 with some cultured final-day slogging. A week earlier, England had come close to taking a 2-0 lead, but were now facing a trip to Johannesburg's Bullring with the series level and the momentum with their opponents.

At least, that's how the pundits saw it. England, however, had by now made "bouncebackability" their watchword, and at the Wanderers they pieced together their most remarkable win of the lot. After four days of hard grind, a draw was the favourite result although South Africa still fancied their chances after overhauling England's 411 and then reducing them to 197 for 5 second-time around. Instead Trescothick, 101 overnight, lashed his way to 180 on the fifth morning. With a lead of 325, England had two sessions to pull off the impossible. Most of the bowlers had by now gone lame, most notably Harmison, but into the limelight stepped the workhorse Hoggard, whose peerless spell of 7 for 61 - with brutal support from Flintoff - delivered victory with eight overs to spare.

Lord's and Edgbaston, Australia 2005
The most anticipated series in living memory lived up to its billing from the very first morning. Australia had not lost at Lord's since 1934, but when Harmison battered Justin Langer's elbow then bloodied Ricky Ponting's cheek in a vicious five-wicket spell, their record was all too vividly at stake. But up stepped Glenn McGrath to remind the Poms who was boss. Responding to a first-innings total of 190, he used the slope to perfection to take 5 for 2 in 31 balls. Pietersen, on debut, muscled England back on track with a hard-hitting fifty, but it was his drop of Michael Clarke in the second innings that would be the decisive moment of the game. Clarke made a match-breaking 91, and a demoralised England folded without resistance on the fourth afternoon. After all the hype, normal service had been resumed. Or so we thought.

The press were in a lather but England resisted the temptation to tinker, and the outcome was the closest finish in Ashes history. It all started with a freak incident in practice, when McGrath - the Lord's destroyer - stepped on a stray cricket ball and tore ligaments in his ankle. Ponting refused to err on the side of caution and chose to bowl regardless, and England's liberated batsmen hurtled to 407 in just 79.2 overs. That was enough to secure a lead of 99, but when Shane Warne ripped a monstrous legbreak into Andrew Strauss's stumps before the close of the second day, England had seen enough to know that trouble lay ahead. Sure enough, they collapsed to 131 for 9, but Flintoff - supported by Simon Jones - thumped 51 precious runs for the tenth wicket, before derailing Australia's innings with two wickets in his first over. At 175 for 8, the match was in the bag, but Australia refused to comply. Warne, Brett Lee and Michael Kasprowicz gnawed away at the requirement, before Harmison - with a final throw of the dice - hammered a short ball into Kasprowicz's gloves, for Geraint Jones to complete a nerve-shredding two-run win with a tumbling take down the leg-side.

Lahore v Pakistan, 2005-06 and Headingley v West Indies, 2007
England's post-Ashes party started at The Oval on September 12, and ended at Multan two months later, when Shoaib Akhtar and Danish Kaneria engineered a remarkable 22-run win. Vaughan was missing from that match - his knee had given way during a warm-up in Lahore - but he was back in the saddle for England's second defeat of the series - an innings-and-100-run rout at the Gadaffi Stadium, when England's bid for a seventh consecutive series win was uncompromisingly thwarted. There it seemed his tale would end. One operation followed another, as he was forced to pull out of the India tour the following March, as well as an entire home season and the Ashes rematch Down Under.

But finally, he did make his return - 18 months and 16 matches later - on his home ground at Headingley in May 2007, where he marked his comeback with an emotional century and a record-equalling 20th victory as England captain, a thumping innings and 283-run win over West Indies.