Play with 'no fear' - Vaughan

Michael Vaughan has urged his young side to play with "no fear" if they are to emulate England's 1992 side and reach the latter stages of the World Cup.

Since that side lost to Pakistan in the final at Melbourne, no England side has reached they key stages of the World Cup and has even failed to qualify for the second stage for the last two tournaments.

But Vaughan said: "A young team can sometimes be surprising and play with no fear. I see that in some of the younger players that they don't fear many situations and that is what they're going to have to be like over the next few weeks."

Vaughan added: "They can't be fearful of facing the world stars we're going to be coming up against, they have got to be really excited about the challenge ahead of them."

One of the main features of Vaughan's leadership since he took over the captaincy in 2003 has been to encourage the views of younger players when formulating plans and tactics and not just rely on the experienced players.

While England will still depend on players with World Cup experience - particularly Vaughan, all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, Paul Collingwood and Jimmy Anderson - they are also aware that experience has not been the key to success in previous tournaments.

"We have an environment where it is not necessarily the oldest player that comes up with the best idea," explained Vaughan. "Young players do not have the experience of the guys who have played more games but sometimes fresh is best.

"The likes of myself, Freddie and Paul Collingwood who have played in a few World Cups will be able to pass on a bit of knowledge, but we haven't had success in World Cups and what we try and accommodate in the team is to have an open voice.

"The young players in St Vincent certainly brought a lot to the team in the way they spoke. It is down to the individual to think on their feet and we hope over the next few weeks that the experience of playing will be invaluable to them."