How Do You Solve A Problem Like Michael Vaughan?

posted: 25 July 2008 by Jim Butler

Michael Vaughan is England's most successful cricket captain - but, ponders Jim Butler, does he still warrant a place in a faltering Test team?

Tomorrow morning, England's four-man selection team will announce the squad for the Third Test against South Africa which begins at Edgbaston next week.

In the wake of the embarrassing capitulation against Graeme Smith's men at Trent Bridge, the role of this selection panel - comprised of national selector Geoff Miller, England coach Peter Moores, plus James Whitaker and the erstwhile King of Spain and 2005 Ashes hero Ashley Giles - has been brought into sharper focus than at any other time in recent memory.

What, for example, to do with Aussie, oops, sorry, proper English, not-so fast bowler Darren Pattinson? What about the latest wicketkeeper-cum-batsman flop Tim Ambrose - a chap, lest we forget, who is also less than 100 per cent pom?

Then there's Stuart Broad and James Anderson: two bowlers short on confidence - although, ironically enough, not with the bat. And that's before deciding whether to bring back the likes of Paul Collingwood, Steve Harmison, Simon Jones and Matthew Hoggard, stalwarts one and all.

However, arguably their greatest concern is the selection quandary that dare not speak its name. Nope, not trying to mould Kevin Pietersen into a team player, rather the thorny issue of Michael Vaughan and his form, or, more pointedly, lack thereof, with the bat.

Statistically, Vaughan is the most successful English cricket captain ever. That's not the reason questioning his place is considered heresy in some quarters though. For that, you have to look back to the Ashes triumph of three summers ago. It was Vaughan, after all, who guided us to that unforgettable victory against Australia; his bold and imaginative captaincy one of the pivotal reasons for England's ultimate cricketing redemption.

Since then, Vaughan, when he's played, has been a shadow of his former self. His captaincy still retains unparalleled vim and vigour, but his batting, after one injury too many, appears to be in irreversible decline.

Cricket captaincy, unlike, say football or rugby, is a far more taxing proposition. Rare is the player whose individual form doesn't suffer - before succeeding Nasser Hussain, Vaughan averaged a world class 50.98, now it's 42.70, still impressive, but you get the point. With each passing failure, his 2002 zenith, when he scored 1,481 runs in that calendar year, appears further and further away.

For now though, his position is safe. His players trust him and with no obvious alternatives to take on the captain's role the best we can hope for is that Vaughan morphs
into a latter-day Mike Brearley, an obvious antecedent whom would never have got into a Test side by dint of his batting prowess alone, but when coupled with his leadership nous and his unerring ability to coax the best out of a side containing such rum buggers as Ian Botham, Geoff Boycott, Phil Edmonds and Bob Willis, was something of a Captain Marvel.

But make no mistake, at some point in the not-too-distant future the problem of carrying a batsman on the wane will have to be addressed. Any Aussies out there fancy the job?

Jim Butler - In 1996 Jim thought all his Christmases had come at once when Eric Cantona called him ‘mate’. Ten years later he met four-fifths of Girls Aloud. He still can’t decide which event excites him more. In the meantime he whiles away the working day writing and devising content for Channel 4’s mobile portal.