The pressure is on Australia - Vaughan

Michael Vaughan has declared that Australia will be under more pressure than England during this year's Ashes series. Speaking to The Wisden Cricketer, he said he looked forward to battle with the best team ever.

"It's a summer I'm looking forward to because we're playing against the best team there has ever been. I shall certainly tell my team that if they can't go into that with the same sense of excitement, they shouldn't be there. There's certainly only one team under maximum pressure and that's them."

Putting the South African series win behind him, he said England would have to play at their best to give Australia a run. "We will have to play at our maximum against them to win, far better than we have on this tour. But what excites me is that I'm going into an Ashes series with a young team, one that will be around in 2006-07, whereas they openly admit they will lose some players, maybe as many as four or five. What we have done this winter is show character and you need that and guts above all against the Aussies."

Steve Harmison, he felt, bowled a yard short, but was still an integral part of the team. "Maybe he bowled a yard too short but he was getting players out with those deliveries last year. I wouldn't even consider not having him in the team."

Vaughan spoke of his relationship with Duncan Fletcher who, he said, made the captain's job easier. "The captain and coach relationship is crucial. You have to be so close, bouncing ideas off each other. You don't always agree but, as soon as you go into the team, you have to be singing from the same hymn sheet, even if one of you thinks differently. He's very clever to work with, brilliant technically, and he makes my job so much easier.

"I still have moments where I get very stressed with the job. There are times when I sit in my room and worry. Of course, everyone worries but what I'm quite good at is that I can wake up the next morning and forget about it, tackle it afresh. I always sleep well. The only time I don't is when I've batted a lot that day and you end up going through your innings till three in the morning."

Nasser Hussain, his predecessor, wrote elsewhere in the magazine that Vaughan brought a greater level of positivity to the side than he [Nasser] could provide. "Michael has a good tactical brain. He isn't afraid of putting things in motion and putting fielders in unusual positions. He's a more positive captain than me. Duncan and I were on a similar wavelength in terms of how cautious or positive to be. Michael is more positive and has an almost Australian mentality of always attacking. He has given this England side a fresh, positive outlook."