I'm still the man to lead England, insists Vaughan

Vaughan needs to prove that he still has the Midas touch when he leads England out at the Basin Reserve at 9.30pm tomorrow and that he can bring the best out of his talented under-achievers who appear set to make another break from their illustrious past by putting Steve Harmison out of his misery.

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Not only were England outbowled and outbatted in Hamilton but their captain was totally out-thought by Daniel Vettori and needs to dismiss the nagging suspicion that the effort involved in climbing another mountain with a new team might be beyond a man who has already scaled twin mental peaks in winning the Ashes and overcoming serious injury.

Vaughan clearly wants to captain England for some time yet and is highly regarded for his achievements in the five years - minus almost two spent on the sidelines - since he took the job.

There is no suggestion yet that his calm and confident demeanour is being undermined by self-doubt or that his team are questioning his leadership. Yet he knows that he badly needs a good performance here both for himself and coach Peter Moores to rest a little more easily.

England will surely leave Harmison out, possibly for good, and say a sad goodbye to yet another member of the Class of 2005. It was almost predictable that Harmison should have produced his best bowling of the tour at nets yesterday to leave England wondering if they would be doing the right thing in discarding him but that in itself tells a revealing tale.

Surely Harmison knows that he cannot possibly play after losing every semblance of form and potency in Hamilton and, with the release of pressure, he relaxed and bowled like we all know he can to a clearly ruffled Ian Bell. The England coaches must feel totally exasperated by the man.

Vaughan would not reveal England's hand yesterday but talked of his frustration at Harmison's plight and how England are having to move forward without so many pillars of recent triumphs.

"I very much hope he can come back," said Vaughan. "It is frustrating because we all know how much talent he has and I love captaining Steve Harmison because I know what he brings to the team.

"I was as disappointed as anyone with the way he bowled in Hamilton and it's so sad to see how much effort he's putting in and it's just not coming out as he'd like."

The captain, though, appears to be resigned to adding Harmison's name to the growing list of exiled MBEs who were supposed to go on and become the best team in the world. Ashley Giles has retired and Marcus Trescothick, Geraint Jones and Simon Jones are unlikely to play for England again.

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Harmison is a shadow of his former self, Matthew Hoggard needs to prove that he is not past his best while England are holding their breath and hoping that Andrew Flintoff will be able to return this summer.

Vaughan, Andrew Strauss, who still needs to re-establish himself, Kevin Pietersen, Bell and Collingwood are the last of an increasingly endangered species.

"This is a different era and a new set of players," agreed Vaughan, one of five players who opted to miss optional nets yesterday along with Collingwood, Pietersen, Ryan Sidebottom and Tim Ambrose.

"You can't look back. Trescothick is a great player who is very hard to replace. Flintoff is one of the best all-rounders ever to play the game. But at the minute we haven't got those players and we're trying to make the best team possible out of those we do have.

"I do think we've got a talented bunch of players who could gel into a very good team and I believe I'm still the man to lead them. We are asking for a little bit of time but I do think we can produce better performances now. There's no reason why we can't turn up this week and get the series back to 1-1."

And does Vaughan need to change his captaincy style to try to make this team realise their potential?

"I'm learning about captaincy all the time," he said. "My style does change series by series even though that might not be visible off the field.

"I'm having to captain this set of players differently because they have less experience and that means talking to them more but I do find them a pleasure to captain. This team work harder than any England side I've been associated with and I just hope we can turn it around and get a result."

Vaughan was yesterday talking with selector James Whitaker, who stayed on after the Hamilton humiliation, and Moores about the "big decisions" that need to be made before they announced their team.

Yet it would still be a major surprise if they dropped any of their top six and the most likely scenario would be just the one change with Stuart Broad replacing Harmison.

They just do not appear to have enough faith in Graeme Swann to replicate the two-spinner policy that served New Zealand so well in the first Test and one that the hosts are keen to repeat even though the Basin Reserve usually has a bit more pace, bounce and seam movement than Seddon Park.

Do not be surprised, however, if it undergoes a transformation before tonight and is again a low and slow surface that England found so hard to handle in Hamilton.

New Zealand (probable): Bell, How, Fleming, Sinclair, Taylor, Oram, McCullum (keeper), Vettori (captain), Mills, Patel, Martin.

England (probable): Cook, Vaughan (captain), Strauss, Pietersen, Bell, Collingwood, Ambrose (keeper), Broad, Sidebottom, Hoggard, Panesar.

Umpires: Rudi Koetzen and Steve Davis (Australia)

Referee: Javagal Srinath (India).

TV: Sky Sports from 9pm, start at 9.30pm.