Zimbabwe shadow hangs over Vaughan
For all England's attempts to try to get the media to concentrate on the immediate task in hand - Sunday's warm-up against Namibia - the media wouldn't leave the Z word alone
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In the end Michael Vaughan played ball, claiming to more than one raised eyebrow that Zimbabwe had not been discussed by any of the players since they had arrived in Windhoek. "There hasn't been a mention of it at all, we've just been working hard on our fitness," he said. "We're not particularly looking forward to it, but it's five opportunities to impress on the field. I want the guys to concentrate on the cricket, it's crucial that they focus on winning matches.
"If there are any political questions we have Richard Bevan, David Morgan and John Carr coming out to answer them ... and if there are any other questions I will be answering them."
Vaughan will be relieved that queries regarding Zimbabwe should be put on the back burner for three days at least as England meet Namibia in two one-day warm-up matches. Their preparations haven't been ideal. Storms have limited them to a few gentle outdoor sessions, and a request to the Namibians that they be allowed to field all 14 players in each match was firmly declined.
"The weather has intervened, and we have done a lot of fitness, which we always intended to do on this part of the trip," Vaughan explained. "We'd have liked to have had a bit more middle and net practice, so we're going in slightly rusty, but we still expect a decent performance. We have a young, exciting team - and I expect them to perform to a decent standard even if they haven't had much net practice."
England won't be taking Namibia too lightly. On the only previous occasion the two sides met, during the 2003 World Cup, the match was far closer than expected and for a time there was a sniff of an upset in the air. England went on to win, but it was closer than expected.
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