Michael Vaughan - Six of the best

	Michael Vaughan was in splendid form in the Ashes in Australia in 2002-03 and it sowed the seeds of the victory that followed two years later © Getty Images
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A daunting debut - Johannesburg 1999-2000

It's hard to imagine any tougher introduction to Test cricket than the one that befell Vaughan against South Africa in November 1999. As Kevin Pietersen would testify five years later, the Johannesburg Bullring in full voice is one of the game's most forbidding venues, never mind on a damp opening morning of a seismic Test series, with two of the greatest bowlers of their generation, Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock, in full cry.

On a seething greentop, Donald demolished Mike Atherton's stumps with an absurdly prolific inswinger, and before the match was three overs old, three fellow England captains - Nasser Hussain, Mark Butcher and Alec Stewart - had all departed with a paltry two runs on the board. It was left to a future England captain to restore a shred of respectability. He made only 33 in a minute shy of two hours, but it was a personal triumph nonetheless.

The win that changed everything - Lord's 2000

For Donald and Pollock, read Ambrose and Walsh. West Indies were a fading force in the summer of 2000, but so long as their two great champions were allowed to dictate the terms of engagement, England knew that the Wisden Trophy, last recaptured in 1969, would remain way out of their clutches. Vaughan did not play in the series opener at Edgbaston, where Walsh's eight wickets delivered a crushing innings victory, but he was right in the thick of a topsy-turvy second Test at Lord's. England, pitifully, had trailed by 133 on first innings, but when Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick skittled the Windies for 54 the second-time around, the stage was set for one of the most agonising run-chases in English Test history.

Needing 188 to keep the series alive, Vaughan and Atherton ground desperately towards their goal, against a pair of legends inspired by the full weight of Caribbean history. Walsh claimed the first six wickets to fall, Ambrose conceded 22 runs in 22 overs. Vaughan's contribution was a mere 41, but by the time he'd been extracted, West Indies' support act of Franklyn Rose and Reon King simply lacked the class to keep England at bay. The win, incidentally, was the first significant result of Hussain's partnership with Duncan Fletcher. Who knows what might have happened if they'd gone two-down with three to play.

A summer sensation - England v India 2002

By now, Vaughan's temperament had stood up to innumerable tests, but somehow his runs had arrived only at a trickle - he was made to wait for a regular berth while Graeme Hick ran out of opportunities, and when he did get a run in the side, accidents seemed to single him out, for instance his handled-the-ball dismissal in Bangalore. But then, all of a sudden, he allied his style to unprecedented substance, and there was scarcely a bowler in the world who could contain him. After launching the summer of 2002 with a second-innings century against Sri Lanka at Lord's, Vaughan waited for the arrival of the Indians to showcase his full repertoire.

An even 100 at Lord's was followed up with a magical 197 at Nottingham, and a no-less astonishing 195 at The Oval. In all three instances, his judgement of length was superlative, with cover drives to anything full, and flowing pull strokes on the regular occasions the bowlers dropped short. Factor in a dismissive paddle-sweep to nullify the spin of Harbhajan Singh, and all that was missing, peculiarly, was a head for heights. Twice he got to within a boundary of a double-hundred, but he'd never get so close again.

	The death rattle at Trent Bridge against India which eventually resulted in Vaughan's first home series defeat as captain © Getty Images

Thunder Down Under - The Ashes 2002-03

The performance that really sowed the seeds for the miracle of 2005. Australia's first sighting of the man who had swept all before him in England that year was inconclusive - in Brisbane, he collected three fours in ten balls to get under the skin of Glenn McGrath, but scores of 33 and 0 were no indication of what was to follow. On the first day in Adelaide, however, Vaughan took it upon himself to atone for England's first-Test hiding. He cavorted to 177 on the first day alone, clattering 22 fours and three swivel-pull sixes, before falling in the final over of the day to leave England - somehow - precariously placed at 295 for 4.

Nevertheless, though the series was slipping away, Vaughan's determination to capitalise on his glorious form did not waver. He alone found a response as the Boxing Day Test slipped away, delivering a personal chastisement to Stuart MacGill, whom he swept, drove and pulled for 79 of his eventual 145 runs. And then, a week later in Sydney, deliverance finally came, as Vaughan's charm-like 183 at last proved sufficient for England to force victory. His tally of 633 runs was the most by any England batsmen Down Under since Geoff Boycott and John Edrich anchored the triumph of 1970-71, and more than double the tally of the next most prolific in the side.

The captain makes his mark - Old Trafford 2005

You could never tell it from his aura and detachment in the field, but the England captaincy took its toll on Vaughan. One minute he was ploughing his energies into the art of Test-match opening, the next he had transferred his attentions to the needs and requirements of his team-mates. Though his personal performances fell away dramatically, England's record of 14 Test victories in 18 matches leading into the 2005 Ashes was a very welcome trade-off. Nevertheless, with the Australians not only targeting the captain but the man they regarded as the star batsman in the line-up, the need to land a blow for the leadership was overpowering.

Sure enough, after three single-figure scores in four innings, Vaughan delivered in style at Old Trafford. He needed some luck, a lot of it in fact, as Glenn McGrath found his edge on 41 only for Adam Gilchrist to spill the chance, and then one delivery later, McGrath compounded the error by overstepping as Vaughan's off stump went cartwheeling. He needed no further invitation to cut loose. On the bounciest track of the summer, Vaughan caressed 20 fours and a six in a brilliant 166. The captain had laid down his gauntlet.

The last hurrah - Trent Bridge 2007

Michael Vaughan's second coming as England's captain was a sadly unfulfilled affair. After 18 months of rehab on his knee, the team to which he returned was flaky and unfamiliar, and he struggled to recapture the intensity of 2003-05. He did have his moments - not least an emotional century in his comeback Test on his home turf at Headingley, although the hopelessness of his West Indian opponents took a sheen of gloss off the achievement. And he later added a sixth century in 12 Tests at Lord's to see off New Zealand.

But neither of those performances truly replicated the memory of Vaughan in his pomp - instead, it was his magnificent but futile 124 against India at Trent Bridge that can really be regarded as his farewell performance. As if enraged at the prospect of surrendering his first-ever home series defeat, Vaughan launched into a deficit of 283 with balletic intensity, and with 18 fours all round the ground, drew England level with six wickets still standing. Who knows what might have happened if he'd piled on through to the close. Instead, he tried to work Zaheer Khan off his hip, and as the ball deflected off the under-side of his thigh-pad into his stumps, England's series hopes evaporated with him.