Cricket Round-upMichael Vaughan claims he has learnt how to balance the roles of England's captain and top batsman, offering compelling evidence with a match-saving century at the Asgiriya Stadium in Kandy, Sri Lanka on Saturday.
The 29-year-old's first three-figure score since inheriting the captaincy in late July - his 10th Test ton in all - ensured Sri Lanka failed to kill-off the tourists for the second weekend running.
Having dominated the Galle opener, where England hung on with nine second-innings wickets down, the home side managed only five dismissals on a final day of 104 overs as their opponents finished on 285 for seven.
Their 368-run victory target was nothing more than an academic statistic and when Nasser Hussain fell to the fourth delivery of the morning, a repeat of the south coast heroics appeared a distant hope.
But Vaughan toiled for seven and a half hours in his 333-ball knock, a monumental effort of disciplined concentration against Muttiah Muralitharan on his home ground.
That provided a reminder if it were needed that as well as being in charge, Yorkshire's Vaughan, the scourge of the Australian attack 12 months ago, is his country's premier batsman.
"At the end of the summer I was thinking about the captaincy too much when I batted," Vaughan said.
"So I made a decision when I went out to bat to go out there solely as a batter to try to get England off to a good start. In the summer I was thinking about being captain and it is very hard to do that. Being in the middle is what I concentrate on now."
His three Ashes hundreds last winter confirmed Vaughan as one of the world's leading stroke-makers but an innings of contrasting tempo was required against the turning ball on a fifth-day surface.
Meanwhile, Brian Lara produced another masterclass as he steered West Indies towards safety on day three of the first Test against South Africa and set a new world record into the bargain. South Africa's total of 561 had looked intimidating, but Lara once again led from the front with a brilliant unbeaten 178 which means West Indies avoided the follow-on.
Coming in before lunch at the fall of Ramnaresh Sarwan's wicket, Lara had made exactly 100 by tea, off 142 balls.
He continued to dominate in the evening and took 28 off one Robin Peterson over with a sequence of 4-6-6-4-4-4.
That set a new Test world record from one over for him after his Test best score of 375 was eclipsed by Matthew Hayden of Australia, who made 380 against Zimbabwe. The Windies closed on 363 for six although they still have much work to do.
