“The best thing for me is to try and get back to being best batsmen I can be.”

Fair point. If they didn’t have to drop you, you wouldn’t be losing the captaincy and if you scored more runs, maybe the series would have gone better.

Michael Vaughan now knows that everything isn’t scripted especially for him.

He had to convince everyone he could successfully come back from injury a year ago. He made a hundred in his first innings back. That probably sent him over.

All the effort, all the hard work was instantly vindicated. Put that into the head of a captain who’d received one too many plaudits for an unexpected Ashes win and he maybe gets a bit ahead of himself.

Vaughan never makes runs in county cricket, but tells himself and us that he’s above that. He’s not.

An element of complacency seems to have set in - certainly in his own game. It was always a magic ball. A big score was always just round the corner. Maybe he didn’t really mean it when he said things like that, but it certainly seemed like he did.

Michael Vaughan was a great captain, but like most British sports people, he only really paid lip service to the philosophy of constant improvement that’s the hallmark of true success. Either that or he responded to pressure and criticism in an arrogant way that gave that impression.

If it’s the latter, he’s screwed. That basically just means that he’s not good enough and gets a bit defensive about his shortcomings.

If he did just get a bit lazy, then at least there’s something he can do about it - and he’s the kind of guy who would do something about it. His pride’s been clean bowled first ball and Vaughan’s a proud man.

Half-cut and half-asleep. We’ll come back to this another time.

Tags: England, Michael Vaughan by King Cricket
13 Comments »

Shove Michael Vaughan down to number six - that’s where England keep their worst batsman.

Paul Collingwood seems likely to lose his place. He has another innings, but does he honestly look like a man who’ll make use of it? It’s the latest chapter in England’s number six saga and after Tim Ambrose’s brief appearance in the slot, the chapters are getting shorter.

Where other nations value their number six batsman, England use it as a dumping ground for the newest arrival to the team, the most likely departure from it, or, in the case of Ambrose, whoever’s left over.

South Africa have vehement letter C denier, AB de Villiers, batting at six. India have VVS Laxman. India’s number sixes have averaged 13 runs more than England’s since 2000. Even Bangladesh’s average more and you’re not even supposed to include Bangladesh when you talk about Test cricket, because it’s an unwritten rule that they don’t count.

Vaughan won’t move to six, because he’ll see it as a demotion, but that’s because of the way England treat the slot. If number six weren’t such a tainted limbo, maybe the fall of the fourth wicket wouldn’t send such shockwaves through the side and maybe the earlier batsmen wouldn’t live in constant fear of that.

England v South Africa, third Test at Edgbaston, day one
England 231 all out (Alastair Cook 76, Ian Bell 50, Jacques Kallis 3-31, Andre Nel 3-47)
South Africa 38-1

Tags: England, Michael Vaughan, Paul Collingwood, South Africa by King Cricket
7 Comments »

Remember how Andrew Strauss was going to GET THE JOB DONE? Ceci sent more pictures, saying:

“Squire Hoggard and the chav Vaughan. KP however will always be an alien life form to me. I’d like to say the rough edges are there as an ironic statement, but of course I would be a big fat liar.”

This one we can take, even if the dog on the left is a bit… visible.

This is harder to take. Don’t look at the weirdly taut groin, whatever you do.

And this one - we don’t know what to say about this one.

You people know that graphic designers read this site, don’t you? Imagine how they feel being so comprehensively outshone.

Tags: Kevin Pietersen, Matthew Hoggard, Michael Vaughan by King Cricket
5 Comments »

It was far from a classic Test match. It felt like it was mapped out from the start and the players were just doing what they were expected to do.

Now we’re no strangers to going through the motions, but we don’t put a professional veneer on like the cricketers did. It’s deceitful. The more worthy approach is to wallow in your half-heartedness, perhaps by referring to it directly in the second paragraph of a post.

We liked what Michael Vaughan and Alastair Cook did though - a hundred partnership in each innings. Vaughan’s always looked best as an opener and it’s refreshing to have a right-hander in that role for once.

It wasn’t a difficult batting pitch, but Vaughan and Cook are two players you want in the England side and they’re probably in their best batting positions. Bad news for Andrew Strauss, who’s currently masquerading as a really, really early arriving member of England’s squad to tour New Zealand. He’s signed with Northern Districts.

Sri Lanka v England, second Test at Columbo - day four
England 351 all out (Michael Vaughan 87, Alastair Cook 81, Matt Prior 79, Muttiah Muralitharan 5-116, Lasith Malinga 3-78)
Sri Lanka 548-9 declared (Mahela Jayawardene 195, Michael Vandort 138, Prasanna Jayawardene 79, Ryan Sidebottom 3-100, Steve Harmison 3-111)
England 250-3 (Alastair Cook 62, Michael Vaughan 61, Ian Bell 54)
Match drawn

Tags: England, Michael Vaughan, Sri Lanka by King Cricket
2 Comments »