Captain Michael Vaughan knows an historic success at Centurion will far outweigh his previous triumph at the ground.

Vaughan claimed the man-of-the-match award on the 1999-2000 tour here after hitting a maiden Test half-century in England's thrilling pursuit of 249.

That victory later proved to be tainted, however, during the match-fixing trial of the then South African captain Hansie Cronje.

If the thrill of those memories has been diluted, Vaughan now has the opportunity to conduct a first Test series win on South African soil by an English side for 40 years.

''At the time I thought no different of it, as a young player I was delighted to score my first 50 for England,'' reflected 30-year-old Vaughan. ''To pick up the man-of-the-match and win the game was also a bonus.

''Since then it has come to light what happened and it is very disappointing to feel I was involved in it. But at the time I had no indication of what was going on, I was just trying to win the game. It just seemed a tough game and a decent chase.''

A similar result, this time genuine in conception, would do nicely and Vaughan believes his creaking side has one more match-winning performance in them despite only needing to avoid defeat to finish the job.

They have become accustomed to setting new highs over the past 12 months, having broken the barren spell in the Caribbean, which stretched back into the 1960s, with a 3-0 win over the West Indies and chalked up an English record eight successive Test victories.

The fantastic final-day performance in Johannesburg which sealed a 77-run win has now given the injury-hit tourists the opportunity for another landmark, although Vaughan insists they should be wary of recent history: South Africa held the advantage going into the final Test at the Oval in 2003 and were somehow pegged back despite batting first and posting 484.

''It is a very similar situation to the last time we played in England,'' reflected Vaughan. ''We were 2-1 down and came back strong to level the series, I am sure the South Africans will come back strong this week and we have to make sure we are ready for them whatever happens.

''If we had drawn or lost at the Wanderers I am sure we would have felt a lot more tired than we do. But being 2-1 up we have found extra resources and made sure we are fully energised.

''We are very excited by a tough game and we realise there is a great goal for us to aim for - we can create our own kind of history.

''We will go out to try to win the game because going out for a draw is the wrong mindset.''

Everyone reported fit yesterday as England netted between the showers, although fast bowler Steve Harmison rested his sore left calf as a precautionary recommendation by physio Kirk Russell.

''He is fine, we have a fully fit squad to choose from,'' said Vaughan. ''Kirk just feels he needs a bit more of a rest.

''Over the last year Steve has shown what a huge threat he is, what a tremendous bowler he can be and he has beaten the bat in this series on a number of occasions.

''We always feel there is a bagful of wickets from him around the corner and I am sure the South African batsmen would love to see him not in the team. From our point of view we are delighted he is still in there.''

Although all-rounder Andrew Flintoff will play after undergoing a cortisone injection in his troublesome left ankle and Harmison is set for one more bid to improve a poor return of seven wickets in four appearances here, their niggles will be of concern to the management and may influence the make-up of the attack.

With the surface bare in patches and well grassed in others, the tourists could opt for an extra fast bowler at the expense of spinner Ashley Giles.

England's leading wicket-taker on the tour, Matthew Hoggard, will take the new ball while the out-of-form James Anderson is competing with Simon Jones, fit again after a lower back problem, and Gloucestershire's Jon Lewis, flown out as cover last week.

''Jimmy is young and he has great potential,'' said Vaughan. ''At stages last week the ball came out of his hand nicely and at others it didn't. We have just tried to take his mind off it, when you have a game like that you have to come back strongly in the next one.'