Defeat was a 'kick up the arse', says Vaughan

Michael Vaughan was a concerned England captain in the aftermath of his side's comprehensive seven-wicket defeat at Potchefstroom, describing the result as a "kick up the arse" ahead of the first Test against South Africa, which begins at Port Elizabeth on Friday.

"It is a worry," he admitted. "We've been convincingly beaten, and we've had one decent session in three days. We haven't batted well as a unit, and though they bowled exceptionally well throughout, there was only one period, yesterday morning, when our guys were able to get it right, and put them under pressure by bowling in tandem. On the whole, we bowled too short and didn't entice the drive enough."

Vaughan denied that England had come into the match undercooked, and pointed out that there had been similar accusations ahead of their 3-0 victories in the Caribbean and at home to New Zealand. But he was nonetheless concerned about the ramifications of such a defeat.

"Cricket is largely a mental game," he said. "There are technical aspects - time in the middle, overs under the belt - but a lot is about what goes on up top. We've got to rally round in the three days between now and Friday. There's a lot of experienced guys in the side, and they've got to do a bit of talking over the next few days.

"I thought there were times in the field that we were a bit quiet for a team that's won ten out of 11," he added. "Perhaps this is a timely reminder that we're not quite at the standard we think we are. We've got one hell of a surprise in store if we play like this over the next few weeks."

Vaughan was equally critical of his batsmen and bowlers and admitted that the players had perhaps underestimated the opposition. "Our shot selection in the first innings was questionable," he said. "The ball was swinging and six of us got out to flamboyant drives, which was a tough shot to play in the conditions. They just dangled the carrot outside off stump and we had a go. It was a pretty good deck and we should have cashed in."

The particular concern for England is the lack of match practice for the batsmen, particularly Mark Butcher and Graham Thorpe. But Vaughan was adamant that they had enough big-match experience to cope. "Butch has a tradition of getting nothing in these fixtures, and then going into the Test and putting in a good score. He's certainly mentally prepared enough to do that on Friday, as is Thorpey.

"But it could be a good time to lose," he concluded. "We were trying to get too clever, and perhaps didn't take it as hard as we should. Right now we are hurting from a bad loss - and the result suggests it was a hammering. The next few days are crucial, but tomorrow have a chat and move on to Port Elizabeth."