June 07, 2007	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 21, 1428

MANCHESTER (England), June 6: Michael Vaughan is on the verge of becoming England's most successful cricket captain if his team win the third Test against the West Indies at Old Trafford starting Thursday.

Vaughan's 21st Test victory as captain would move him past Peter May's tally of 20 wins, set 46 years ago.

However, preparation for the match has been sidetracked with Vaughan denying media reports that he blamed the drunken antics of all-rounder Andrew Flintoff for England’s lacklustre performance at the World Cup.

Vaughan said the team had not been affected by the fallout, which included an angry response from Lancashire County Cricket Club, where Flintoff plays. Lancashire chief executive Jim Cumbes said the criticism of Flintoff was ‘despicable’.But Vaughan didn't expect the Lancashire crowd to turn against him on Thursday.

“I'm looking forward to getting Freddie fit and back in the team,” Vaughan said. “He's the one player we miss desperately because of what he offers to the team and I'm sure the Manchester crowd will appreciate what's gone on.”

England went 1-0 up in the four-Test series after an innings and 283-run defeat of the West Indies in the second Test at Headingley – the worst-ever Test defeat for the tourists.

England named an unchanged line-up for Manchester, giving paceman Ryan Sidebottom another chance to impress after he took eight wickets in his first Test in six years in Leeds.

Daren Ganga takes the West Indies captaincy after Ramnaresh Sarwan was injured at Headingley in only his second outing as Brian Lara's replacement. Batsman Marlon Samuels has joined up with the squad but did not play in the tour match against the MCC last week.

Ganga said many players gained confidence from the match, despite the draw. Runako Morton hit 201 and Denesh Ramdin added 131. Jerome Taylor took 5-43.

“We're going to use this kind of momentum going into this match,” Ganga said.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul returns from a knee injury to provide experience in the West Indies middle order.

Teams:

ENGLAND: Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Michael Vaughan (captain), Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell, Matt Prior, Liam Plunkett, Steve Harmison, Ryan Sidebottom, Monty Panesar.

WEST INDIES (from): Chris Gayle, Daren Ganga (captain), Devon Smith, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Runako Morton, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo, Denesh Ramdin, Daren Powell, Fidel Edwards, Corey Collymore, Jerome Taylor.

Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and Billy Bowden (New Zealand).

Match referee: Alan Hurst (Australia).—AP