England captain Michael Vaughan warned his team against complacency in the tri-series opener against Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge today.
Under former skipper Nasser Hussain, England hammered the tourists convincingly in the two-test series inside just six days by innings margins.
But Vaughan, the leader of the new-look one-day side, remains wary of Zimbabwe -- a team that qualified for the Super Sixes at the recent World Cup in Africa.
Two players in particular -- skipper Heath Streak and batsman Grant Flower -- concern Vaughan the most. Between them, the pair boast 364 one-day internationals and 8,298 runs and 295 wickets -- a lot more than the entire England squad can muster.
"In the last few years Zimbabwe have proved that they're a good one-day team," Vaughan said. "They've got guys who've been around the one-day arena for a long time."
England's tournament expectations have been lifted by Sunday's come-from-behind 2-1 series win over Pakistan but Vaughan refused to get carried away.
The reward for winning the 10-match tournament -- while remaining unbeaten -- is a shared third place in the one-day championship with Pakistan. The third team in the tournament is South Africa, ranked No.2 in the world. The South Africans will play England at The Oval on Saturday.
Vaughan, who took over from Hussain after England's first-round elimination from the World Cup, paid tribute to his young players for their new-found success.
"We've asked for character from the young players and they all seem to have it," he said. "There's been an influx of energy in the field with the young guys.
Streak is determined not to let England dominate his team again.
"We realize it's going to be hard, but we believe we can compete in the series," he said. "I'm confident the guys will come out and prove to everyone that they are better than what we saw in the test series."
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