Sunday 28 September 2008

Vaughan left out

Michael Vaughan has been told by the selectors that he hasn't done enough in county cricket to be given a place on the tour to India. In my opinion this is the right decision. In terms of Vaughan's form he has averaged 23 for Yorkshire this year and hasn't played a significant or substantial innings since his resignation as England captain.

The decision to leave him out would make things easier for KP as well. India is a difficult place to tour at the best of times and having Vaughan there in the background provides the potential for conflict. Vaughan has recently said that he won't get in KP's way but I think that when things go wrong (which they are likely to do at some point) the press and maybe the players would find it easy to say that under Vaughan, things would have been different.

The last tour of Australia in 2006-07 showed that Vaughan can make things difficult when he wants to. He followed Flintoff's England around Australia supposedly working on his fitness but having plenty to say to the press about how the team was going. The conflict between Flintoff, Fletcher and Vaughan was distracting for the players and was part of the reason England imploded so spectacularly and were whitewashed.

As for Vaughan, going away to play in South Africa, New Zealand or Australia this winter could give him the chance to play a series of innings, spend time in the middle, get his feet moving in time again and pick up some form. If he scored runs this winter the selectors would be likely to pick him for the England tour to the West Indies in order to see if he would be ready for the Ashes later in 2009. Vaughan's presence as a player in the Ashes would be wonderful to see - when in form he is one of the best batsmen around to watch and scores at a quick rate as well.

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