Vaughan steps up injury recovery

Vaughan missed the Ashes series with a knee injury

Skipper Michael Vaughan has begun batting and fielding indoors, aiming to recover from hamstring trouble in time to lead England at the World Cup.

The 15-man squad leave Gatwick Airport on Friday and England have warm-up games on 5 and 9 March in St Vincent.

"Hamstrings are vulnerable and before you get out on grass and have a couple of games you don't know," he said.

"But so far so good. I'm confident it should be fine for our first World Cup match against New Zealand on 16 March."

Interview: England captain Michael Vaughan

Vaughan said he is unlikely to play in the whole of the opening warm-up match against Bermuda but looks likely to use a rematch with Australia as a final fitness test.

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If he does not pull through, Mal Loye is expected to replace him, with Andrew Flintoff most likely to lead the side.

England have also had fitness concerns over bowlers James Anderson (back) and Jon Lewis (Achilles) but Vaughan insisted both are ready to travel.

He added: "The only question mark has been Jon Lewis because he has not had any cricket but he will be looking to bowl his 10 overs in the warm-up games."

Vaughan told BBC Sport any of the eight leading nations could win the tournament.

He went on: "We were the worst team ever to go to Australia and one week later we had turned it around and won the one-day trophy - that's how fast you can turn it around.

"We've got some fantastic players in our team. If we can beat New Zealand it will give us a huge boost.

"In the Super Eights, if you get a bit of luck, work out the conditions then you can win the game and it's the first time in a number of years you can't predict the winner."

Being back at the top of the order may be an opportunity to be consistent Michael Vaughan

Considered a world-class Test batsman, Vaughan has been less comfortable in 50-over internationals, where he averages 27.70 after 77 appearances.

But he said: "In the last few World Cups a player has gone from nowhere to play very well.

"In the last World Cup, it was [Australia's] Andrew Symonds, let's hope it's Michael Vaughan this time.

"I have had good one-day innings, it's not like I've completely folded in one-day cricket. It's just that I haven't been consistent.

"Being back at the top of the order may be an opportunity to be consistent."

Vaughan was speaking at the launch of Michael Vaughan Cricket, an initiative to encourage children to play the game, at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.