THE retirement of Nasser Hussain could well be a big boost for England - and particularly skipper Michael Vaughan.

That is not to run down the service Nasser has given to his country, but with the arrival of Andy Strauss it seems to be one of those happy coincidences.

The nine wicket victory over New Zealand at Headingley that secured a series win saw the England batting order show a great deal of strength - with Vaughan helped by playing lower down the order.

It had to be a strong performance because at Leeds - having put a side into bat having won the toss - you would look to bowl a side out for 250 and when New Zealand notched 400-plus, you had to feel that was too many.

But England bounced back well and put themselves in the box seat to go on the attack and eventually gain a thoroughly deserved success.

It was good to see Marcus Trescothick get over one of those little spells every batsman suffers. He has been struggling, but it only takes one knock and you are right back on your game both mentally and technically.

Marcus probably needed it as he was the man under pressure.

Strauss has made the transition to Test cricket with ease and, on the strength of his three innings so far, he has to keep his place as an opener.

So the debate was whether Trescothick stayed and Vaughan moved down the order, or would the Somerset batsman surrender his place.

He met the challenge full on and it will have been the answer Vaughan wanted.

Now down the order the skipper will be able to get on with working on organisation rather than worrying about padding up as soon as his side have finished fielding.

Wake up call arrives early enough for Lancashire

THANK goodness that Lancashire's wake up call has arrived sooner rather than later.

The county championship and Totesport defeats down in Kent were basically nothing more than good hidings and it is better that happens now so that something can be done about it.

There has been a risk that Lancashire have been getting into the zone where the side feel they think other sides are just going to roll over.

Instead they have been beaten and while no side can expect to go through the year without losing, it was the manner in which they were beaten - at least we are still at a stage where the camp can rectify their problems.

The one thing that Lancashire have been banking on is that they have virtually a full set as far as bowling options go.

Save for the lack of a left arm seamer we have a leg spinner, an off spinner , a left arm spinner, swing bowlers, seamers and pace bowlers. It is the full array, but what matters is how they are deployed.

The job is all about how pressure is applied and that is what they failed to do against Kent.

Once a side has stacked up 600 runs in a county championship game your only target is a draw - but the question has to be asked as to how Kent made those runs so quickly.

The batsmen can't get away without some questions being asked as, on a wicket that was proved to be benign, a score of 400-plus was there to be had and the follow-on could have been avoided - and a draw would have resulted.