Cricket: Vaughan sees the positives.

Byline: DAVID CLOUGH

ENGLAND captain Michael Vaughan did not have to look too far for a saving grace in his team's six wicket NatWest Series defeat by South Africa at Old Trafford.

His fellow Yorkshire batsman Anthony McGrath's maiden one-day international half century paled in comparison to another flawless innings from Jacques Kallis which ensured the tourists ran out easy winners in yesterday's day-night match.

But there was nonetheless much to please the new captain from McGrath (52), who combined in a third-wicket stand of 114 with Marcus Trescothick (60) to rescue England from seven for two on the way to 223 for seven and what appeared to be a par total.

Kallis - who was left 18 runs short of a third successive one day hundred - and Jacques Rudolph (71no) were to easily surpass that target in an unbroken partnership of 145.

But that did not change Vaughan's mind about a sterling effort from McGrath.

``The ball was doing a lot for the seamers all the way through,and it was particularly tough when Anthony started his innings,'' saidVaughan.

``Shaun Pollock was right on target with the new ball, and I thought Anthony played extremely well.''

McGrath took 15 balls to get off the mark -having seen Trescothick need 18 to register his first run. But both branched out with some well-timed shots off either foot once they got set.

Vaughan, who himself fell caught behind to a good delivery from Pollock, said: ``For Anthony to show the composure he did to help get us out of trouble was very impressive.''

Even more striking to the neutral eye was the unruffled chase marshal led by Kallis, who helped his team canter home with almost three overs to spare and later shrugged off the disappointment of missing a third hundred.

``It would have been nice to get another hundred - but at the end of the day we did what the team required us to do,''he said.

``Sometimes you can go out and get 10 off five balls, and that is as good as anything you can do for the team.''

Kallis' captain Graeme Smith was equally appreciative of Kallis' runs and those scored by 22-year- old novice Rudolph.

``We said before if two guys could put together a hundred stand that is the way to win matches. The two Jacques did that, and I thought we went about things very calmly,''he said.

``I would have liked to have been chasing 200 really - because we knew it would not be easy. The wicket did not play particularly well all the way through,but in the end it may be that we batted better and bowled better than they did.''

Vaughan did not disagree with that assessment.

``We did not bowl as well as we have,but those two Kallis and Rudolph did play exceptionally well,''he conceded.

``We have said right from the word go that we are building with this young team.

``The important thing is that we learn and go forward.''

Scoreboard

ENGLAND M E Trescothick c Boje b van Jaarsveld ... 60 V S Solanki c Boucher b Ntini ............4 M P Vaughan c Boucher b Pollock........ 3 A McGrath st Boucher b Boje ...........52 A Flintoff c Smith b Kallis..............12 J O Troughton c Gibbs Ntini ...........5 C M W Read not out .................. 30 R L Johnson b Ntini ...................10 A F Giles not out ..................... 20 Extras.............. 27 Total (7 wkts,50 overs) 223 Fall: 1-4, 2-7, 3-121,4-140,5-162, 6-162, 7-176.

Bowling: Pollock 10-4-21-1,Ntini 8-0-38-3, Hall 7-0-43-0,Langeveldt 6-0-25-0,Boje 10-0-46-1, van Jaarsveld 5-1-18- 1,Kall is 4-1 181.

SOUTH AFRICA G C Smith Anderson ................ 22 H H Gibbs run out .....................1 A J Hall Flintoff ..................... 29 J H Kallis not out .....................82 J A Rudolph not out .................. 71 Extras.............. 22 Total (3 wkts,47.3 overs) 227. Fall: 1-24, 2-37, 3-82.

Bowling: Anderson 7-0-37-1,Gough 10-0-38-0 Flintoff 9.3-2-33-1,Johnson 7-0-30-0,Giles 9-0-51-0,Vaughan 5-0-27-0. South Africa won by 7 wkts.

CAPTION(S):

BREAKTHROUGH: South Africa's Andrew Hall is bowled by Andrew Flintoff; HIGH SCORE: Jacques Kallis smashes a boundary during his innings