Michael Vaughan's still intact

England were beaten again today. Let's gloss over that part. In fact, let's completely ignore it.

Michael Vaughan played! And he survived! In addition to this, he opened the batting and played a pull shot. It was like the glory days when England only lost 4-1 in Australia rather than 5-0.

Most cricketing sages are saying that it's stupid that Michael Vaughan's in England's one-day squad and that he's captain. They say he was never much good as a one-day player - which is true - and that he's likely to still be a little preoccupied with his knee - which is also probably true.

On the other hand, it just feels a damn sight better to have Michael Vaughan around looking determined and saying half-interesting things at press conferences, doesn't it? Michael Vaughan's a proven international captain and he doesn't let things slide.

We're happier even if we're kidding ourself. We don't care. Kidding yourself is de rigueur for England supporters right now, otherwise things all get a bit negative and you end up spending a large percentage of your time sleeping because you're not interested in anything except crying and feeling guilty.

We're drafting a World Cup-winning England one-day team at the moment. We're going to ink Michael Vaughan in as opener, even though that wasn't the plan. We've realised that faint positive vibes as a result of harking back to the golden days is a far more realistic target than actually trying to devise a side that could beat another group of international cricketers.