Golden boy Michael Vaughan may have batted himself into England's one-day squad.

His imperious 125 not out and an unbeaten 51 from Darren Lehmann steered Yorkshire to a crushing eight wicket victory at Somerset yesterday with 80 balls to spare.

The pair put on an unbroken 140 at more than a run-a-ball to set up a semi-final meeting with one-day specialists Gloucestershire at Headingley next month.

Vaughan's first one-day hundred for the White Rose county, which included 18 fours, may be enough to force him into the England squad for the one-day games against Pakistan and Australia announced tomorrow morning.

Vaughan, 26, only made his one-day international debut in Sri Lanka this winter but could have the chance of his third appearance after a sensational day in the West Country.

"I was probably not regarded as a one-day player until recently and rightly so. My record for Yorkshire is not great," Vaughan said.

"I have batted everywhere from one know what you are going to do it's quite easy to plan. I've tried to be positive in the first 15 overs and go on and get a big score after that.

"If you look to bat a full 50 overs you should score 100. Obviously this was a bit different as everything seemed to hit the middle of the bat. I seemed to score a lot of boundaries and it doesn't always happen that way.

"Ask the Yorkshire lads and they will tell you I do play my shots but there have been certain situations with England, especially when I started, where it was necessary to save the match.

"I know I can play all the shots, it's just picking the right balls.

"But for England I will bat anywhere. You can't be too picky!"

A delighted Vaughan said after receiving the gold award: "Playing for England has certainly given me added confidence. I think I have batted pretty well for the past couple of years and to get a century today was icing on the cake.

"I have been dying to record a one-day century and I was very disappointed to get out for 92 against Leicestershire in the group stages of the B and H.

And the draw, made immediately after the game, gave Yorkshire a dream home tie with Cup holders and one-day kings Gloucestershire who beat them in the B and H Super Cup final two years' ago.

The match will be played on Monday, June 26, by which time the new West Stand at Headingley will be in operation and a capacity 14,000 crowd can be anticipated.

The other semi-final, to be played on the same day, is between Surrey and Nottinghamshire at the Oval.

Updated: 12:20 Thursday, May 24, 2001