Following England’s worst run of form for many years, this was no more and no less than was required. With Vaughan gone, and Collingwood following him, the times really do appear to be a-changin’.
I suspect that could be it for Vaughan as an England player, unless he’s back by the start of next summer. As Mark Ramprakash has shown, an aging batsman needs more than runs to force his way into the England team. The pressure to recall him for the Ashes series will be immense, but ultimately will depend on many factors: injuries, selectorial whimsy, his own form, the form of whoever replaces him in the batting line-up, and the form of the new England team. For the first time in many years, Vaughan is no longer the master of his own destiny.
KP is the only viable candidate to take over. The job has probably come a couple of years too early for Ian Bell, and a couple of years too late for Andrew Strauss. There’s the Freddie factor, of course – expect some barmy tabloid columnist to push his case. Pietersen as captain could go either way. His success will depend whether it is ultimately he who stamps his mark upon the captaincy, or the captaincy that stamps its mark upon him. A good first step would be to move up to number three, thus relieving a new recruit of that weighty burden.
And what of that new recruit? After the Pattinson debacle, the selectors are unlikely to look beyond the main contenders of Shah, Bopara and Key. Key is the best replacement for Vaughan’s experience; Shah the closest fit to Vaughan’s strokeplay; Bopara a suitable substitute for Vaughan’s temperament. Whoever they do pick, one thing will be certain: when England arrive at The Oval on Thursday, there will be a conspicuous Virgil-shaped hole in that dressing room. Thanks for everything, Michael – things won’t be the same without you.
Hope it’s not Shah as the new batsman – he’s surely not good enough to cope with Steyn (if he plays) and Morkel. Key would be the obvious candidate, although how about Scott Newman for a punt? That’s assuming the selectors don’t simply recall Stuart Broad.
For the captaincy – again, hope it’s not Pietersen, because I don’t think he’s good enough, or experienced enough. On the other hand, it might act as a tonic for Bell, don’t you think – make him get his head down and stop throwing away his wicket?
Anyway, since the confusion is immense, I’m not going to be putting any money on what happens next!
I believe the resignation was the right thing for Michael Vaughan the person but a dreadful one for English cricket. There’s one quote from his press conference that I haven’t seen much comment on but I think it’s key to why he resigned:
“But I haven’t been me at home and I guess that’s why I’ve come to this decision. I want to be me again.”
I suspect that the constant press sniping that has been going on for the last two years got to him and that it started to affect his domestic life. I’m not suggesting that his marriage is in trouble, nothing like that, but none of us can imagine what it’s like to have so many armchair critics and newspaper columns calling for our heads. To my mind, one reason why England as a sportin gnation are not more successful is because the newspapers breed the ‘build them up, knock them down’ mentality in so-called fans and the negativity always wins out. A look at the BBC 606 forum will show you quite how monumentally f****** stupid some ‘fans’ are and those ‘fans’ have gotten their opinions from poor quality journalists for the most part. I wonder if Vaughan felt it simply wasn’t worth taking all the shit that flies any longer. When it starts affecting your personal life, it’s hard to continue enjoying the job or wanting to do it.
One aspect of the Peter Moores era has been a consistent lack of direction from the coach as to what he wants from his players. James Anderson is the best example. Against India last summer, he was given the new ball because he’s sharpish in pace and he swings it. He did well. We then come to the 1st Test in Sri Lanka: now he’s first change behind Hoggard and Sidebottom. He fails to play the next two Tests and Stuart Broad makes his debut. In New Zealand he comes back to open the bowling after Harmison and Hoggard are ditched. He continues leading the new ball attack against New Zealand over here this summer. It’s that sort of indecision over his squad that has characterised the Moores regime. throw in the laughable wicketkeeper situation in which they state that they want the best batsman-keeper about, drop him after he scores runs, try another guy in Mustard for the ODI matches who doesn’t do too badly and then decide to plump for Ambrose, a guy who doesn’t convince at either level.
I don’t think Peter Moores has any clue over his best XI or how he wants to progress. The selection of Pattinson seems to have come from the selectors pushing him, possibly with the backing of Moores, and wasn’t something Vaughan wanted. You knew in the Fletcher era who was picking the side. You knew captain and coach were generally in agreement. You don’t under Moores.
For a long time I suspected Vaughan would have bowed out of international cricket after the 2009 Ashes series. I hope to hell that he picks up his form and gets back to batting as we all know he can. I fear for England now. The captaincy choices don’t fill me with any confidence at all. Pietersen might be OK but I suspct he is too emotional and too impulsive in the long term. Strauss would be on a hiding to nothing as the newspapers still have it in for him. The outsider bet in Robert Key.. oh come on. I believe the Kent success in one-day competitions is more down to some shrewd Kolpak signings rather than great captaincy. Without the high profile that comes with getting to Twenty20 Finals day, I doubt people would even be tipping Key. He’s not as good a captain as Chris Adams. The Sussex success wasn’t down to four or five Kolpak players, it was down to one inspired signing in Mushtaq Ahmed and a captain and coaching structure that really did get the most out of the players.
First off, I have a lot of respect for Vaughan, one of my favorite cricketers and a real leader of men. It’s clear that things aren’t right at the selection level and I’d cast the blame there before I’d put the burden of failure on Vaughan for this last series.
I can think of 4 players who, when fit, will be likely be guaranteed a spot in the ODI and Test sides:
Pietersen, Cook, Flintoff, and Panesar. There’s no way that Panesar is captain material, as lovable of a mascot he makes. Cook I still think isn’t there yet, and burdening a 23 year old with that kind of responsibility would be unwise. I still think he may one day captain England, and it may be that after the 2009 Ashes he could step in. Flintoff has already failed at the position and Pietersen has already captained the One Day side. And a lot of people are throwing Strauss’s name out there, but he’s such a shaky player that relies more on instinct than technique, and I would be willing to bet that his game goes straight to shit if he’s handed the captaincy.
My hope is that the captaincy turns Pietersen into a more responsible batsman, gives him some perspective and teaches him to become a situation player, not simply a stylish one. It’s just the simple lack of success and continuity that means there’s not outstanding candidate, and it makes this decision unbelievably tricky. One thing is clear though: the people at the ECB, the England coaching staff, the selectors, and the new captain need to sit down and come up with a long term plan through the 2009 Ashes and get on the same page.
It is my belief that no member of the current squad is capable of filling Vaughans shoes. The obvious candidates (Collingwood & Strauss) have tried and are not up the job, whilst Pieterson,Bell and Cook are not ready. Robert Key would be my choice as he looks like a solid performer with the bat and an excellent leader.
However a change of captain alone is not enough to bring our national team back to winning ways, whilst there is the core of a good team, changes must be made in other areas to give us a chance of winning test matches.A return to the side for Steve Harmison would be an obvious choice, but he would appear to be lacking in commitment so Simon Jones surely deserves another chance as he seems to have recovered from his injury problems and is showing the form that got him selected before his injury problems. Jimmy Anderson is the one who should make way, he is a talented bowler but for me doe’s not perform to his full potential consistantly.
The biggest change though should surely be the selectors,
Vaughans pedigree as captain is undoubted, it is obvious he has struggled for form with the bat, but how can a man be expected win games whilst the same underperforming players get picked game after game.
Miller and his side kicks should follow the former England captains lead and take a break from the game.
I would not be so quick to dismiss Panesar as test captain. He seems like the least likely one to have his playing form affected by the responsibilities of captaincy. They won’t pick him, though, because they want a unified captaincy across all forms, and he’s less valuable in limited overs matches.
I think they’ll probably give it to KP, and maybe it will be good for him. It seems his ego has become a bit of a liability, and there may be no job more humbling than England captain.
If Kevin Pieterson is captain of Engand for the 2009 Ashes Australia will win.
If Andrew Flintoff is captain of Engand for the 2009 Ashes Australia will win.
As an Aussie who will be in England next year, i really hope you guys sort all this out, because, as much as i enjoy watching England getting absolutely punished…
3 day tests really don’t do much for me!
Even though he’s lost the ridiculous haircut, Pieterson has far too much on his plate to add the captaincy on top of it. Like it or lump it, England’s successes will rely on Pietersen making runs, and forcing him to try and manage everything else is a bridge too far.
Strauss seems to me to be the kind of player who’d raise his game when the pressure was on, as he did in the third Test in New Zealand where he saved his career with his highest knock. Maybe the captaincy would help him.
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