Certainly, he is not the sort to be perturbed by bumpers or barbs. These opponents cannot find a weakness in his game, or nothing more serious than a tendency to hit off-drives in the air and a hesitancy between the wickets that has so far promised more than it has delivered…”He has met the challenge, scoring heavily, batting superbly and showing that the bulldog can still bark.”Peter Roebuck, The Age”The night has been long and dark for England, and the false dawns too frequent to declare this the final hour. This is a dead rubber, and Australia yesterday afternoon was without both Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, its bowling alpha and omega, so the context was narrow.”But Vaughan has the makings of a rising Phoenix from English ashes that must necessarily be spelt with a small “a”.”Greg Baum, Sydney Morning Herald”The most impressive part of Michael Vaughan’s commanding century was the deep sense of frustration and disappointment he showed on dismissal.”Vaughan’s defiant 145 has driven the fourth Test into a final day for the first time on tour and given England a ghost of a chance of causing Australia some uncomfortable moments today. But Vaughan wanted more…”Already three of [his] seven centuries have ranged between 177 and 197 and his determination at the crease may one day translate into the strength of a leader.”Malcolm Conn, The Australian. The 1,481 runs Michael Vaughan has scored for England in 2002 did not mean a thing when he edged an attempted cut shot from the leg-spin of Stuart MacGill here at the MCG yesterday. He angrily swished his bat at the ground after Martin Love took the catch at first slip and later admitted it was a “crap shot”.

Accepting the applause from a sparse, but largely English, crowd, Vaughan could console himself in the knowledge that he is the highest run-scorer in Test cricket this year and only Viv Richards has scored more Test runs than him in a calendar year.That was in 1976 when the “master blaster” pummelled bowlers from all around the world into submission. In 19 innings Richards scored 1,710 runs, which included seven centuries and five fifties. While Vaughan’s achievements in 24 completed innings do not yet put him in this category of player, the 26-year-old can leave Australia knowing he is among the best around.”It is fantastic to be mentioned in the same breath as Tendulkar, Ponting and Hayden, but I am not a massive one for stats,” said Vaughan, slightly unaware of the scale of his success. “I have always said I will look at my stats when I finish my career and see how well I have done then, but it is pretty special to be top of that list.”I could look at this and say, crikey, I have made it, but I have only played 27 Tests and I have a long way to go in my career. I know there will be patches of form when I don’t score the amount of runs I am at the minute and it is how you cope in the bad times, not when you are playing well.”It is the level-headed and composed approach of Vaughan, on and off the field, that convinces you he will go down as an England great.

To succeed at the highest level a certain amount of natural ability is necessary, but the challenge, or talent, is making the most of this gift.After a summer flogging Sri Lanka and India, Vaughan showed the Australian bowlers he would be no pushover from the first Test in Brisbane. He may have scored only 33, but right from the start he made his presence felt. This was followed up by a magnificent 177 in Adelaide and his wonderful performance in this match.”A lot of people wrote before the tour that Australia will be the thorough test of a player’s ability,” he said. “So there were doubts of how I would cope? But I told myself it is only a red ball. It is exactly the same as what has been coming down at me for the last 10 years in the game.