Vaughan continues to torment India For all the felicitation ceremonies arranged for Sachin Tendulkar on the occasion of his 100th Test, the biggest gift Tendulkar could have wished for was an epochal Indian victory at The Oval. Sadly for him - and for India - Michael Vaughan decided that he couldn't have it. Vaughan - in the primest of form during this series - hit up an unbeaten 182 on the first day, leading England to a closing score of 336 for two. His third century of the series could well end up being the double he missed out on at Leeds, and India could only stand and watch as classical strokes cascaded from his blade. Marcus Trescothick - back in the side after an injury hiatus - and Mark Butcher gave Vaughan good support, making sturdy half-centuries. India's bowlers could make little impact on the batting, and if they are yet to win their first series in England in 16 years, they will have to push themselves many notches up on the second day.

Butcher all praise for Vaughan Mark Butcher led the praise for the man with whom he put on 174 for the second wicket, Michael Vaughan. Butcher, who scored 54 hinself, said, "He is in magnificent touch. There was nowhere in the ground he couldn't hit the ball and it was a great pleasure to be batting with him." "He didn't try and hit it too hard, he just timed everything and the ball kept going for four. Michael kept the scoreboard rattling around while I just stayed there. I was batting like a weasel and he was smashing it everywhere." "The fact that he was playing well meant I could play myself in, work the ball around and knock singles around," continued Butcher. "That's twice now I've bored the crowd at one end while he's smashed it all over the place at the other." "I think the main thing when you're playing like that is you don't think about much else, there's nothing going on in your mind. Every ball that comes down you have an answer for, it's very uncomplicated when you are playing that well." But England's work is hardly done. "The plan is to bat all day and do what India did to us at Headingley, pushing the score to 500 or maybe 600," added Butcher. "The wicket hasn't got a tremendous amount of pace in it and it suits slow bowlers, it has turned already and will turn more as the match goes on." "If that score becomes 450 all out tomorrow we have made a mess of it. There was a lot of talk of India having the momentum in the series after Headingley but this proved you can't predict what's going to happen in a Test on what's gone before."

Leaping and bounding Leaps and bounds is a much misused phrase, but in Michael Vaughan's case it is perhaps an understatement. When Vaughan first made his foray into the international arena, against South Africa in 1999-2000, pundits predicted that he could don the mantle of the dour batsman, once worn by fellow Yorkshireman Geoffrey Boycott and more recently by Michael Atherton. In the last year, however, Vaughan has proved that England will have to look elsewhere for dourness. A burgeoning repertoire of strokes has made him a very difficult batsman to bowl to. Pitch it up and he drives with the best of them. Pitch it short and he is quick to pull or cut. And the occasional good delivery - at least as far as the Indian bowling is concerned - is met with near-perfect defence. A swallow does not a summer make, but four centuries have certainly made Michael Vaughan's summer.

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