Today should have been the fifth day of the third test at Edgbaston, but after England's five-wicket defeat wrapped up the series for South Africa with a game to spare, attention turned to the soon to be ex-England captain Michael Vaughan.
The ECB announced that they would make a statement at 1.00pm on Sunday, and from the moment they did so speculation began that Vaughan would resign the England captaincy. At the appointed time he tearfully did so, citing the effect on his private life as one of the major reasons for his decision. Soon after, it was learned that Paul Collingwood has also resigned the captaincy of the England one-day team, although cynical folks like me will suggest that he jumped before he was gently pushed. It seems the ECB have decided to have one captain for all forms of the game, and with Collingwood still unsure of his place in the side long-term (despite his heroic 135 at Edgbaston), he was never going to get the nod as test skipper. Reports suggest that Kevin Pietersen will.
So where did it all go wrong for Vaughan? The Yorkshire batsmen is rightly viewed as one of England's best ever captains having won more games than any of his predecessors, and been largely responsible for plotting the downfall of the Australians in that memorable Ashes series of 2005. Yet as a player he has struggled to justify his place in the team of late. A fine 100 in the first test of the summer against New Zealand has managed to lift his international average for the season above 26, but in the main his batting exploits have been poor. A series of failures with the bat have left fans, critics and probably the selectors wondering about Vaughan's place in the side, and so the man himself admitted it was time to go.
In doing so, he did however stress that he wished to carry on playing for England as a batsman, but would be taking a break from the game. This means he will not figure in the fourth test match due to start at The Oval on Thursday. It has to be doubtful whether he will be able to break back into the team at the age of 33, with a series of younger batsmen such as Ravi Bopara, Owais Shah and Graham Napier surely better options for the long-term future.
To better news about Brits now, as Andy Murray wins his first Masters Series event in Cincinnati. The Scot beat Novak Djokovic to rise to sixth in the world rankings, and immediately prepared the proverbial rod for his own back by going on about winning the Olympic Games tournament aswell as the US Open. You can't say that Murray has the kind of shyness and doubt in his ability which blighted the career of Tim Henman, but you have to wonder whether the 21-year-old might just be better off keeping his mouth closed about his future prospects until he has proved his worth at Grand Slam level.
Still, this tournament contained all of the world's best players including Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer. As such, Murray's achievement is a considerable one and offers genuine hope that one day soon, he might just be able to back up his seemingly premature claims to world domination in tennis.
Dominating at home if not on a worldwide scale are St.Helens. Daniel Anderson's side brush Wakefield Trinity Wildcats off easily, running out 42-10 winners at Belle Vue. The win gives Saints a two-point lead over Leeds Rhinos at the top of the Super League after the Headingley club were beaten 22-12 at Warrington on Saturday. Wakefield's defeat coupled with Harlequins' 36-24 win over Bradford Bulls means there is something of a jam around the play-off places, with just four points separating all of the Bulls, Wildcats, Harlequins and Hull KR, who surprised Catalans Dragons 30-16 on Friday night. In the weekend's dead rubber sponsored by Richard Lewis' Daft Idea To Abolish Relegation, Huddersfield Giants stuff Castleford Tigers 40-14.
No comments:
Post a Comment