Nasser Hussain says Michael Vaughan will end his barren spell with the bat in the first New Zealand Test.

The summer is here and England get underway against New Zealand this week looking to continue where they left off in Napier.

There are some batsmen breathing down the necks of the six who will start for England at Lord's with one player in particular under pressure - the captain.

Michael Vaughan has come under pressure to score runs this summer as there are some out there who feel he does not warrant his place given his recent form.

As a captain who is not scoring as many runs as you would like it's an added pressure because you feel the vultures circling.

And because this is a low-profile series as well the Press need a talking point. That talking point at the moment is Vaughan's lack of runs.

But it only takes one hundred to put all that to bed.

Also, as captain if you're leaving a player out you would like to have runs behind you so you can go up to a player and say 'look, sorry but you're not playing.'

For example if Michael turns to Hoggard and tells him he is not in the XI you don't want Hoggard turning round and saying 'well it would be nice if you got some, Skip'.

But I don't think we're at that stage with Vaughan just yet.

I would say right now that I think Vaughan should be captain for at least the next 18 months - he is by far the best candidate to lead us into the Ashes series next summer.

England are a better side with Vaughan in charge, he's a fantastic captain, he's a fantastic player and he hasn't had that much of a loss of form for England - he's still averaging 40 over the last year.

He's got five hundreds at Lord's, only Graham Gooch has got more, so I think Vaughan will be absolutely fine.

He'll need runs for his own peace of mind but as far as I'm concerned there are no doubts whatsoever in my head with Vaughan as captain, and also that he will lead England into the next Ashes series.

Michael is a cool customer but he'll be thinking about the criticism.

Myself, Athers and Michael Holding bumped into Michael at Lord's on Monday and he was able to laugh at himself.

He walked into the room and said 'I'm the bloke who got 0 and 1 against Loughborough University, how are you doing?'

That's what gets Michael through difficult situations, he's a fairly relaxed sort of character.

I'm not a betting man but I might have a few quid on Vaughan rocking up at Lord's - a ground that he likes to play at - with a big score.

He won't be getting himself into mental turmoil at the moment, he'll work hard and I'll have a few quid on him getting a hundred in the first Test and proving the doubters wrong.

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