'Promising England can reach greater heights'

Nottingham, Aug 9 - Cricketing greats Michael Vaughan and Ian Botham have predicted big achievements for the Ashes-winning England team following its inning-and-78-run triumph at Trent Bridge cricket ground.

They suggested that the team's players could become a part of a "golden generation". England won the fourth Test here at Nottingham on Saturday to pocket the five-match series 3-1. The fifth match is scheduled to begin on August 20 in London.

"This is an England team of huge promise who have achieved success far quicker than I ever expected," former England skipper Vaughan wrote in his column for a newspaper on sunday.

"Now the challenge is to build a real legacy and go down as our greatest team. They are a young side with even the senior players having a few more years left in them... so the chance is there to become a golden generation."

Vaughan praised batsman Joe Root for his impressive form during the series tipping him to be one of England's greatest players.

"In Joe Root, we are looking at a batsman who I think will go down as our greatest player if he continues in this manner. The way he moves from position to position in the order, or effortlessly goes from Test to 50-over and Twenty20 cricket takes real skill. He is consistent in all formats, which is the mark of greatness in the modern era," he said.

Botham said that after this stupendous victory against their traditional rivals, the "sky was the limit" now for England. Botham also praised Root for his valuable contribution.

"England have been magnificent. They have shown better skills with bat, ball and in the field," Botham wrote in a newspaper on Sunday.

"Root has gone on to a different level and is arguably the best batsman in the world right now, but I don't think it will be too long before Stokes and others are the best at what they do.

The talent in England has long been there, and now there is a depth of players they can pick from that should sustain things for years to come. The sky is the limit for this group of players.

"The senior players will be around for a few years yet, the captain is going nowhere, and the young players will just get better and better so who knows how far they can go," he added.