Who's Next For the England Captaincy?
By Daniel Campbell
When you gotta go you gotta go. Michael Vaughan surely has to step down from the England Team and relinquish the Captaincy. At present, his captaincy stands up to scrutiny just...but his batting simply does not. He is occupying the key position in the order at number three, and he is simply just not making the runs. His dismal performances thus far against the South Africans must be personally embarrassing for him. Just 2 runs at Lords, a duck in the 1st innings at Headingly followed by just 22 in the second innings is the stuff of nightmares and could be the deciding factor of who wins and who loses the series. Vaughan should either return to open or leave himself out of the next test. His 22 in the second innings at Headingly was probably his worst knock as his dismissal came at a time when a Captains knock was called for. England are in massive danger of losing the second test and quite possibly the series.
Vaughan, who began his tenure as England Captain against the Proteus in 2003, scoring a superb 156 in his first match, but after that his run in the series was dismal to say the very least; his next highest score being just 33. In fact without his 156 he averaged just 18 for the rest of the series and so far in this one he has averaged just 8. It is clear that the South Africans have his number and it is one of their top priorities in this series to remove him as early as possible in every innings. Unfortunately for Vaughan he does not have the answers and perhaps on that basis he should step down and give the tourists something else to think about.
It would be relatively easy to replace him in the batting, Bell could move up to number three and make it his position permanently. The only difficulty is who would be able to take on the Captain's role? Kevin Pietersen seems to be next in line in the online betting odds, but there would be nothing worse for him than to lose his batting focus, particularly after the great start he has made in the series. He would certainly relish the opportunity to Captain the side against his country of birth and being England's best batsman he would have the complete respect of the team. Ian Bell himself has no experience and Alistair Cook, while established in the team is not ready for such a huge undertaking. It would be naïve to consider Freddie Flintoff after his shenanigans in the Cricket World Cup; Andrew Strauss is another who's batting may suffer. An in form Collingwood might be the best option for the mid-term but whoever it might be Vaughan surely should go now before causing himself further embarrassment.