What an amazing few weeks they have been for Michael Vaughan who has visibly grown from being an elegant batsman with plenty of talent to one of the very best in the country.

Vaughan had already served his apprenticeship with England by the start of this season but suddenly he has become a master craftsman at all levels of the game.

Three consecutive matches brought him three centuries, all in a completely different context and all of the same exceptional quality.

First there was his rip-roaring 125 not out off only 128 balls to dash Yorkshire to an eight wicket triumph over Somerset at Taunton in the quarter-finals of the Benson and Hedges Cup.

Then came his equally brilliant 133 in the Championship win against Northamptonshire at Headingley and that was followed by his maiden Test century at Old Trafford when he pasted Pakistan's attack for 120 from 223 balls with 16 fours.

You only needed to see Vaughan in any one of these delightful exhibitions of batting to realise that here was a batsman at his very best who should be at the top of his game for years to come.

In the B&H match, Somerset's Aussie captain, Jamie Cox, admitted that the ferocity of Vaughan's strokeplay had taken them off guard and that they had been unable to deal with it.

At Headingley, umpires John Holder and Ray Julian were both unstinting in their praise of Vaughan, who had played one of the best innings they had seen in a long while.

And at the Test, England coach Duncan Fletcher waxed lyrical about his new No 3.

"Obviously a No 3 has got to have good technique with the ball moving around and he's also got to have mental strength and stay pretty calm.

"Michael's proved he's a very good cricketer who plays quick bowling and the short ball very well."

Vaughan's was the first Test century by a Yorkshire batsman in 20 years, the previous one being scored by Geoff Boycott when he made 105 against India in Delhi in 1981.

Bill Athey smacked 123 against Pakistan at Lord's in 1987 but by then he had left Yorkshire for Gloucestershire.

Vaughan's elevation to a world class batsman makes Yorkshire more pleased than ever that they were able to snatch the Manchester-born cricketer from under Lancashire's nose.

Having moved to Sheffield with his family as a boy, he developed his game in Yorkshire and although Lancashire knew about him they did not go out of their way to draw him to Old Trafford.

It was while Vaughan was practising on the outfield at Abbeydale Park, Sheffield, during the tea interval of a Yorkshire match, that the teenager was spotted by county coach Doug Padgett, who quickly appreciated the young talent on view.

Vaughan became the first non-Yorkshire-born player of the modern era to be given a contract by the club when he was among the first intake of youngsters at the new Academy of Cricket at Park Avenue and it soon became clear that they had a batsman of exceptional ability on their hands.