ENGLAND captain Michael Vaughan batted with great fluency and style yesterday but failed to go on to make a big score in his first innings for Yorkshire since returning from the World Cup.

Vaughan, who is anxious to improve his form ahead of the Test series against the West Indies, made an elegant 31 in Yorkshire Phoenix's Friends Provident Trophy match against Scottish Saltires in Edinburgh which the Tykes went on to win by 42 runs.

Conditions were far removed from those which Vaughan had experienced in the Caribbean but he quickly acclimatised to the cold weather and was soon hitting a ball from Dewald Nel off the middle of the bat to the mid-wicket boundary before dishing out similar treatment to former Yorkshire paceman John Blain in the next over.

Vaughan produced a classic off-drive against Blain but after two further boundaries he nicked a good ball from paceman, Craig Wright, into the gloves of Colin Smith who was standing up to the stumps.

Vaughan said: "I have had a difficult few weeks with England and it is nice to be back playing for Yorkshire.

"I need to get some form before the opening Test and I feel that I played some nice shots today, some of which hit the fielders. On another day I might have gone on to get 50."

Despite Vaughan's cameo, the most attractive batting for Yorkshire came from Anthony McGrath who was back in the side after recovering from a chest infection.

He hooked Blain for six and cleared the mid-wicket rope against the left-arm spin of Glenn Rogers on his way to 66 from 71 deliveries with six fours and two sixes but was then well caught on the square leg boundary by Fraser Watts off Nel.

Yorkshire slowed down in the middle of the innings as Younus Khan took 63 balls to make 41 with three boundaries and he would have been out to the last of those shots if Wright had not completely misjudged a catch at long-off with the ball sailing over his head. The bowler, Majid Haq, gained revenge next ball, Younus being stumped off a legside wide.

It took some robust strokes from Tim Bresnan and Richard Pyrah in the closing overs to hasten Yorkshire to a comfortable total and Scotland soon hit trouble as Watts failed to regain his crease before McGrath's return from mid-wicket resulted in the bails being whipped off by Simon Guy who was a late replacement for the injured Gerard Brophy.

Guy remained in the thick of the action as Scotland literally ran into further trouble, their other opener, Majid Haq, dashing for a third when Ryan Watson played Hoggard towards the square leg boundary. Watson stayed fast in his crease, however, and with both batsmen at the same end there was time for McGrath's throw to reach Guy who then transferred the ball to the bowler.

Watson mishooked Darren Gough and top-edged towards square leg where Guy had dashed to hold the catch and after Bresnan had dismissed Arno Jacobs and George Bailey two further wickets resulted from suicidal run-outs.

Yorkshire made full use of Vaughan's off-spin, not all of which was too accurate, and he was unfortunate not to pick up a wicket when Wright skied to White who could not quite get underneath the ball at mid-off.

Wright helped Scotland recover from 97-6 with a courageous innings of 59 from 66 balls with five fours and it was with three balls remaining that Gough ended the match by bowling last man Nel.

The game was watched in his new role as an umpires' coach by former Yorkshire director of cricket, David Byas.