Khawaja has returned to the middle order to accommodate Travis Head and Jake Weatherald as openers. Weatherald’s last two Tests have produced scores of 18, 1, 10 and 5.
Vaughan expects Australia to persist with Weatherald in Sydney but is concerned by a technical flaw.
“At times he’s looked OK. That head position outside off stump is going to be a real problem for him,” Vaughan said. “He can’t keep falling over to those straight balls. He’ll need some decent runs in Sydney, I’m sure, to carry on his dream of playing for Australia for a long period of time.
“Five matches is a good chunk of opportunity for any player.”
England’s victory in Melbourne was their first on Australian soil since 2011, but Vaughan argued it came in unusual circumstances.
“I think it’s a massive game for England [in Sydney]. It’s nice to win a game of cricket, but let’s be honest, it was a complete lottery in Melbourne. It wasn’t a proper game of Test match cricket,” Vaughan said.
Skipper Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum. Credit: Getty Images
A poor display in Sydney, following a fifth successive series in which England have failed to regain the urn, could spell trouble for coach McCullum and skipper Stokes.
“For the future and for this management in particular, they need to win a strong game of cricket here … that’s not a two-dayer,” he said.
“For this management to carry on, the likes of Ben and Baz – I’m pretty sure they will carry on – but I think they need a good week for that to be absolutely rock solid.
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“There’s a huge appetite within the group to keep [McCullum] on. But fundamentally, if they get pummelled in Sydney, there needs to be some honest conversations.
“I think chopping and changing is not necessarily the right thing for English cricket. Whatever happens at the end of this tour, they’ve got to accept that they got a lot of things wrong.
“If they’re going to be so stubborn to think that they were a bit unlucky, or things didn’t quite go the way they wanted … well, we have a problem going forward.
“The key is maturity and that’s the one thing that I think this team can be a lot better at, in terms of the way they play and talk.
“If they can accept that, I have no problem with the management staying the same.”
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