Cricket: BORN-AGAIN VAUGHAN; ENGLAND PICK SIDE TODAY Former skipper to win Tour ticket.

Byline: BY MIKE WALTERS

ASHES legend Michael Vaughan is standing by to resume his England career today - despite scoring only 43 runs in the last five months.

Former skipper Vaughan is expected to be handed a ticket to the Caribbean when national selector Geoff Miller names England's squad to tour the West Indies in the New Year.

And if Vaughan, 34, makes the cut, he will be given a long fuse for another crack at the Aussies in next summer's Ashes.

The lion king who led England on their triumphant tickertape parade in Trafalgar Square three years ago has not played for England since he tearfully turned in his captain's badge on August 3, hours after the dramatic Test defeat by South Africa at Edgbaston. And with just 43 runs in four championship innings for Yorkshire since then, Vaughan would be the first to admit his recall would be based more on pedigree than performance.

But with his bionic knee now pain-free, and his battery recharged by an extended rest, Vaughan believes there is enough gas left in the tank for another TWO Ashes series.

He said last night: "Hopefully I'll go to the Caribbean - if not, I'll go and play some cricket somewhere to give myself the best possible chance of starting the season and having one more crack at the Aussies - or two.

"When you get to 34, you don't get too many more opportunities as a professional cricketer - so the next opportunity I get, I'm going to have to make the most of it.

"I've definitely got the drive to get back - the one bugbear I have with people is when they say I'm not scoring runs because I'm not hungry. I am hungry. Very hungry."

Crucially, Vaughan enjoys the support of his successor Kevin Pietersen, who has told the selectors he wants experienced back-up in the West Indies.

Pietersen said: "We haven't won a match since the end of last summer, so let's get back to winning ways. We have a few options - I have told the selectors what I want, now it is up to them."

With four big hundreds against Australia, against whom he averages 47.95 with 959 runs in 10 appearances, Vaughan's reputation has cast a long shadow over Ian Bell in the No.3 slot.

Since his 199 against the South Africans at Lord's, Bell has cobbled together just 182 runs in 10 innings, and it may be time to put him out of his misery. Owais Shah will probably go head-to-head with Vaughan for the No.3 spot but the latter's experience in the Caribbean could hold sway.

Steve Harmison emerged as a worldclass bowler on the last tour to the West Indies and despite being dropped for the drawn Second Test against India in Mohali earlier this month, it would take a spectacular bout of amnesia for him to be left at home.

PROBABLE SQUAD

Pietersen (capt), Strauss, Cook, Vaughan, Collingwood, Shah, Flintoff, Prior, Ambrose, Swann, Broad, Harmison, Anderson, Sidebottom, Panesar.

TOUR ITINERARY: February 4-8: First Test (Jamaica), Feb 13-17: Second Test (Antigua), Feb 26-Mar 2: Third Test (Barbados), Mar 6-Mar 10: Fourth Test (Trinidad). Mar 15: Twenty20 (Trinidad).

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