The day when friends became rivals

Michael Vaughan, fielding at short extra cover, takes half a dozen short paces towards the batsman and sinks into a crouch, hands outstretched. It is a position from which he can leap or dive and, when Marcus Trescothick put his front foot down the wicket to cover drive Matthew Hoggard, Vaughan dived as soon as the ball left the bat.

When he caught the ball in his right hand it was a couple of feet above the ground and Vaughan was completely airborne. It was a magnificent catch. Vaughan leapt to his feet and ran way from the wicket pumping his arms and shouting. He had made a good 20 yards before his team-mates caught up and swamped him.

Yorkshire had got Somerset's most valuable wicket in the eighth over with only 41 on the board of which Tresothick had scored 27. He had hit a six into the pavilion and two fours in Hoggard's previous over. He was imperious, majestic and all those adjectives that impute unusual power. To remove him gave Yorkshire a chance of victory.

But there was an extra dimension to Vaughan's explosion of joy. He and Trescothick are old mates and new partners in the England team. No one appreciates the other's talents more than they do. They are a couple, though not at all odd.

Vaughan is 27, 14 months older than Trescothick. They first played together more than eight years ago on an Under-19 tour of Sri Lanka when they were still in their teens. They first made a deep impression that summer against India Under-19's when Vaughan, who was England's captain, opened the innings with Trescothick. The series was more fruitful for them separately than together. They did have one three-figure opening stand but Vaughan got 162 in the First Test and Trescothick 140 and 206 in the second and third.

Both looked immensely promising. (Incidentally, Vaughan had dropped a couple of slip catches while he was Under-19 captain, and he decided then that he should remove himself and concentrate on the covers. That's why he was in the right position to take yesterday's memorable catch.)

There were plenty of admirers at Leeds and Taunton, but the transition from county to Test cricket was slow. Although both looked great when they got going, their averages were undistinguished. Selecting them for England involved an act of faith. Vaughan was first, making his debut at Johannesburg in 1999 when England were 2 for 4. He battled his way to 33 and earned the respect of Nasser Hussain.

The discovery of Trescothick took place the following summer against the West Indies, when he scored 66 on debut. But Vaughan was down the order at No 6. Trescothick was actually the first to establish himself, scoring his maiden hundred against Sri Lanka in the spring of 2001. Vaughan had to wait until the summer when he scored 120 in the first innings against Pakistan at Old Trafford. Then Vaughan was injured.

They finally opened together for England in New Zealand last winter, without a great deal of success. Their best stand was 79 in the second Test, but when this season opened they were the men in place, with Mark Butcher happily dropping to No 3. And at Lord's against Sri Lanka they proved their worth when the chips were down, adding 162 in the second innings. Trescothick's broken thumb prevented them bedding down their partnership, but no one doubts that it will resume when both are fit.

Together they promise now to be greater than the sum of their parts, surely bound to be England's best opening partnership since Graham Gooch and Mike Atherton. Vaughan ought to savour yesterday's dismissal of his old mate. He will not get many opportunities to repeat it.