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By Jonathan Liew 2 years ago, at the start of July Add your comment below
There’s always a tendency to make your best player captain, but of late it’s one England have found it quite easy to resist. Captains need guile, nous, subtlety and tact. Mike Brearley had those things. Conversely, I reckon there’s about a 10% chance Kevin Pietersen hasn’t even heard of Mike Brearley.
For the moment, though, KP appears to the man in possession, which allows a tantalising glimpse into an imagined, post-Vaughan future. The present skipper clearly wants to make it as far as the next Ashes series, although so did Graham Thorpe, you might remember. In fact, any one of a number of circumstances could derail Vaughan before next summer – poor form with the bat, a thumping at the hands of South Africa, a disastrous winter tour, that blasted knee, an invitation to take part in Strictly Come Dancing – you know, anything.
And so, a number of names would be in the frame. Collingwood, if he’s still in the team; Cook, probably; Flintoff as a romantic outside bet; Strauss, heaven forbid. Pietersen, though, will definitely be a front-runner. If his stint as one-day captain goes well or he has a sensational run of form, his hand will be strengthened still further.
What would Pietersen be like as a captain? More importantly, perhaps, what would Pietersen the captain be like as a batsman? This is how the captaincy has affected the batting averages of some modern-day captains:
Ricky Ponting: 62.00 as captain; 55.97 not as captain
Brian Lara: 57.83 as captain; 50.12 not as captain
Rahul Dravid: 44.51 as captain; 57.66 not as captain
Michael Vaughan: 37.71 as captain; 50.98 not as captain
Interesting, isn’t it? The best two captains – Dravid and Vaughan – are the two whose form actually dips when given the top job.
When you consider the circumstances, it begins to make a little sense. Imagine that Vaughan or Dravid comes out to bat at 10 for 1 in reply to a score of about about 500. Neither man is exactly going to come out with all guns blazing. As captain, that would be irresponsible. Vaughan and Dravid feel a great and justifiable sense of responsibility towards their team which sometimes inhibits them from playing their natural game.
If Ponting or Lara came in in the same situation (Lara’s retired, I know) they would feel less constrained by the match situation. The reason? Ponting knows that if he’s out cheaply, chances are one of the batsman coming after him will save the day. Lara knows, or knew, that even if he scored 150, the West Indies would still very possibly lose. Neither Ponting nor Lara are as central to their team’s batting line-up as Vaughan or Dravid are, and they can thus play with a far greater degree of freedom.
That’s not to say that players whose figures improve when they become captain are simply selfish and single-minded; merely that the more freedom you have to play your natural game, the less it matters whether you’re a good captain or not. Ponting could be a terrible captain and Australia would still win most of the time. Lara could be a brilliant one and the West Indies would still lose. It’s the likes of Vaughan and Dravid, in the middle ground, who have to rein themselves in for the good of the team.
The qualities that make players good captains, then, actually render them less effective as a batsman. If KP ever becomes England captain, it looks like someone else is going to have to get the runs.
Tags: batting-averages, brian-lara, captaincy, england, kevin-pietersen, kevin-pieterson, michael-vaughan, mike-brearley, rahul-dravid, ricky-ponting, test-cricket |
Good post, but without looking at the stats I would think that KP has reined himself in over the past 3 or 4 series.
What would be interesting is if KP captains by instinct, he is a much better batsman when he trusts himself but would that make him a better captain?
I really hope we don’t see KP as English cricket captain. I agree he’s a great player but don’t think he’s got what it takes to be captain. Maybe in the future but I think he’s still got a lot of maturing to do before being looked at.
I would be hesitant to jump to any conclusion on the basis of four data points, for several reasons (that’s not to say that the conclusion’s certainly wrong, just that the evidence here is not compelling). Your logic doesn’t seem consistent with Dravid, whose strike rate as captain is essentially identical to what it is when not captain. Vaughan’s strike rate is about a run or two lower as captain than not as captain, hardly a huge difference.
Overall averages for top-order batsmen have improved by about 7% in this decade relative to the 1990’s, and both Ponting and Lara played much of their non-captain cricket in the lower run-scoring environment of the 90’s.
you would have to be hesitant in giving the captaincy to anyone who would throw it away for money in the ipl.
Well, as mainly an indian cricket fan i’m intrigued that you refer to dravid as a 1 of tyhe best captains along with mickey vaughan.
I think rahul might well be 1 of the best test batsman the world has seen & arguably india’s greatest alongwith tendulkar but even he would negate that.
Ponting is a good captain as he gets the best out of an attack that is some distance from being called the best test attack in the world.
It’s ganguly’s b’day today.Dada was the best that we’ve had & he must have done better as a captain than prior to earning captaincy.
I see KP as the yuvraj of the england team & I don’t think he should be made captain.I’m a collingwood fan.His hoick to the leg side on short of length deliveries is astounding.I’d look no further.
The best you to lose your best batsman is to make him the captain and for that matter, Brearley was a veritable dud with the bat. I think you are spot on when you say if KP is the captain, others would have to put those runs on the board.
I thought Dravid was a decent captain- at any rate, better than Ponting who looks all at sea when his bowlers don’t fire. Saying that, Dhoni’s captaincy impressed me greatly, so after Kumble goes for India I’d have him in charge of the Indian Test team. As for England, Collingwood should be ahead of Pietersen in the pecking order, and so should Strauss, who was widely regarded as being a better bet as captain than Flintoff was in the Ashes.
Lies, damn lies and statistics?
if being Captain was all that changed then maybe those stats may mean something.
I think KP would be awful – it looks like they want a long term guy and who else would you say is a fixture to and beyond the next ashes?
Why Strauss heaven forbid?! Another good series would re-cement his place and he, along with Collingwood, is the next best option after Vaughan.
He has experience, doing well against Pakistan in 2006, and should not be ignored just so as not to upset the ‘ego’ candidate, the mistake we made with Flintoff in the last Ashes.
Best player does not make best captain.
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