Vaughan promises positive cricket during Ashes

Michael Vaughan is determined that England will carry on with their aggressive approach to Test cricket when the Ashes series gets under way. He believes that is how England have had their success over the last 18 months and says it is the best way to take on the world champions.

"We won't change our approach, we are going to play positive cricket, attack and try to keep them under pressure for the whole of the summer," he said. "We have had 18 months of success and once you have had success you believe you can get some more; we will need all that belief. When you play Australia there are a lot of mind games, a lot of stuff written but you have to believe in yourself and retain your mental strength. If you get excited about playing against the best team in the world you have a chance of going out and performing."

Generally England's positive approach has brought them rich rewards over the last four Test series - all of which have been won - but just occasionally it has proved their downfall, most notably in Cape Town this winter. England failed to adapt their approach, particularly in the batting, to a more disciplined South African bowling effort and were eventually beaten by 196 runs. But as quickly as this style of play brought their downfall it also brought their memorable success at Johannesburg where aggressive batting by Marcus Tresocthick, bowling by Matthew Hoggard and captaincy by Vaughan powered England to their series clinching victory.

England's desire to play positive cricket will hinge around the fitness of allrounder Andrew Flintoff and how quickly Kevin Pietersen adapts to Test cricket should his chance arrive. Flintoff is recovering well from his ankle injury, which forced him to miss the one-day series in South Africa, and is on course with his rehabilitation. But Vaughan has stressed that no decisions have been made about the line-up to face the Australians.

"They are very destructive and can take the game to the opposition," he said. "When you play Australia you need character and that little bit of arrogance about you and Kevin has those attributes. But there is not only Kevin Pietersen available, we have options in the batting department and players are going to be disappointed; we would rather disappoint a few players than not have enough."