Awesome England's Super Six

It wasn't the biggest victory of this 'Super Six' summer and it won't be remembered as the best all-round performance from Michael Vaughan's men. But nothing, just at the moment, can stop New England.

Old England, from the days when Graham Gooch, Mike Atherton, Alec Stewart and even Nasser Hussain were in charge, managed some good performances and had a few fine players.

But New England are on the sort of winning roll that those teams and individuals from the 1990's and into another century could only dream about.

An ultimately easy seven-wicket triumph at Old Trafford yesterday was their sixth on the trot this summer, a ninth victory in 10 Tests this year and No 13 (from 19 attempts) since Vaughan became captain little more than a year ago.

No wonder the skipper looked a happy man as the rain arrived too late to save West Indies. And no wonder his counterpart, Brian Lara, spoke more in hope than expectation about the visitors' chances of avoiding a whitewash at The Oval later this week.

"We've been in this position a few times now," said Lara, referring to the dreaded clean sweep. "It's motivated us in the past (against Australia-last year and when England were three up with one to play in the Caribbean a few months ago) and I'm confident it can again on Thursday."

New England, though, will be tough to shake off now.

Unlike some examples of rebranding, the change at the top level of English cricket is much more about substance than style.

Vaughan, with coach Duncan Fletcher in full agreement, put a heavy emphasis on tip-top fitness last winter, started work on creating a now seemingly unshakable spirit of togetherness and gladly placed responsibility on each and every member of his side.

It hasn't worked yet in the one-day game.

But so far as Test cricket is concerned, England are stronger than at any time over the past 20 years.

Proof of that can be found in their results of course, especially during the whitewashing of New Zealand earlier this summer, but even more so among the wide spread of top quality performances.

Robert Key narrowly missed out on the century he deserved yesterday, finishing undefeated on 93 when England's initially difficult target of 231 was reached with 27 overs, as well as seven wickets, in hand. But his innings, which surely ended any doubts about his place on this winter's tour of South Africa, was just the latest in a long line of outstanding individual efforts this year.

One after another, almost every England player has stepped forward to produce top quality goods, either with bat or ball.

And even injuries have had a positive effect on the squad. Vaughan's knee problem in May enabled Andrew Strauss to stride forward while Mark Butcher's recent run of bad luck with hamstring, neck and calf has allowed Key to blossom.

It has been a similar story among England's bowling department too, with the captain able to look in almost any direction for inspiration, and find some. No wonder the man of the match adjudicators have had their work cut out during this summer of six super victories.

Yesterday, the prize went to Graham Thorpe for his brilliantly crafted first-innings century that enabled England to recover from 40 for three.

But it could have gone to Andrew Flintoff, Key or even Matthew Hoggard.

Thorpe is one person who can just about be discounted from emerging as the outstanding individual at The Oval when England aim to finish the season with a magnificent seventh victory.

A broken right little finger has all but ruled him out of the fourth and final npower Test. But the team is now such a breeding ground for success that it would be no surprise at all if new recruit Ian Bell emerged from the wings to assume star billing.

"It looks like Bell will be making his debut and we hope he makes exactly the same impact as Strauss and Key because the more players we have looking the part, the better it is," said Vaughan.

Before this series, England's 'Super Six' Summer started with wins over New Zealand by seven wickets at Lord's, nine wickets at Headingley and four wickets at Trent Bridge.

England squad: Trescothick, Strauss, Key, Vaughan (Capt), Bell, Thorpe, Flintoff, G Jones (Wkt), Giles, Hoggard, S Jones, Harmison, Anderson.

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