Very occasionally I jump across sports. I thought it was worth noting that England's most successful captain, Michael Vaughan, has retired from the first class game. Only Athers captained England more but Vaughan captained England to 26 wins (14 draws and only 11 losses) in his 51 tests. As well as the obvious Ashes victory in 2005, he led England to six successive series wins (something that I growing up in the Gooch/Atherton/Hussain years was almost unthinkable).
I've seen him bat a few times for England. Against India, a couple of years ago, I saw him at The Oval and he scratched along to (off the top of my head) 41 or 42. However, at some point in the 30s, he hit two magnificent cover drives one after the other. I can't think of a player who plays the shot better and the reaction of the Oval crowd was not applause or cheering but a sensual ''oooooooh''. The crowd as one ''ooooohed''. Wonderful stuff (and he explains the shot through here).
His test average was a pretty decent 41 (I remember my father once told me that a proper Test batsmen should average at least 40). In his non-captaincy tests, he averaged over 50. In 82 tests, he hit 18 hundreds. For a short while, he was simply astonishing. In the early years of this decade, getting runs against Australia was difficult as they were the pre-eminent team in world cricket. Vaughan managed to knock three centuries in four matches against Warne, McGrath and co (177, 145 and 183). The figures don't tell the story. There are a few players in every generation whose batting moves from simple sport to being an art in and of itself. Vaughan's batting deserves that accolade.
A top player, a top captain and the brain behind the 2005 Ashes win. Thanks for the memories, Michael.
RCM
I've seen him bat a few times for England. Against India, a couple of years ago, I saw him at The Oval and he scratched along to (off the top of my head) 41 or 42. However, at some point in the 30s, he hit two magnificent cover drives one after the other. I can't think of a player who plays the shot better and the reaction of the Oval crowd was not applause or cheering but a sensual ''oooooooh''. The crowd as one ''ooooohed''. Wonderful stuff (and he explains the shot through here).
His test average was a pretty decent 41 (I remember my father once told me that a proper Test batsmen should average at least 40). In his non-captaincy tests, he averaged over 50. In 82 tests, he hit 18 hundreds. For a short while, he was simply astonishing. In the early years of this decade, getting runs against Australia was difficult as they were the pre-eminent team in world cricket. Vaughan managed to knock three centuries in four matches against Warne, McGrath and co (177, 145 and 183). The figures don't tell the story. There are a few players in every generation whose batting moves from simple sport to being an art in and of itself. Vaughan's batting deserves that accolade.
A top player, a top captain and the brain behind the 2005 Ashes win. Thanks for the memories, Michael.
RCM
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