Michael Vaughan stepped down as England’s Test captain yesterday, following a string of poor individual and team performances.
Vaughan announced his decision at a news conference just a day after England lost the third test in four days against South Africa at Edgbaston, giving the tourists an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-match series.
Immediately after the announcement, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said Paul Collingwood had also decided to step down as England one-day captain, clearing the way for a new player to lead both teams. The ECB said it would announce the new captain today, with British media naming Kevin Pietersen as the likely choice.
PHOTO: AP
Vaughan struggled with his batting throughout the South Africa series, totaling just 40 runs in five innings, and was harshly criticized in the British media after Saturday’s five-wicket defeat.
After holding the captaincy for five years, Vaughan said his “mind hasn’t been as fresh” lately and that it was time for a break.
He said he would not play in the final Test at The Oval, but that he hopes to return as a batsman for England for several more years.
Vaughan has an impressive Test average of 41.44 from 82 matches.
“I wish my mind was fresher and I wish I could’ve taken it on another year,” Vaughan said. “But I’ve had five unbelievable years ... It’s just the right time, I feel, to move forward with a new captain, a new direction.”
Vaughan has been one of England’s most successful — and popular — captains, leading the team to victory in the Ashes three years ago.
However, he missed the 2006 season because of knee and hamstring injuries and resigned as one-day captain after a resounding defeat in the Ashes in Australia.
“Whoever gets the job will need a little bit of time,” Vaughan said. “I was pretty average at the start and got better as time wore on. But the England team need a leader to guide them in the right direction.”
The ECB’s managing director Hugh Morris hailed Vaughan as one of England’s all-time greats and said he expects him to return as one of the country’s top batsmen.
“Michael led from the front and led with honesty and integrity every step of the way,” Morris said. “He took the England captaincy to new heights. Michael was the best possible ambassador for the game and his record as captain speaks volumes for the character he instilled in the dressing room.”
Vaughan became teary-eyed as he thanked his family for their support throughout the years.
After a short break from the game, he said he would finish the county season with Yorkshire and hopes to be selected for the England squad for next year’s Ashes.
“I really believe that these can be the best years of my playing career,” he said.
Collingwood, who took over from Vaughan as one-day captain, said his own playing performances had suffered because of the added responsibility.
“I’ve always enjoyed representing my country at the highest level and it has always been my ambition to play cricket, across all forms of the game, but I’ve found the extra workload of the captaincy to be very difficult,” Collingwood said.
■ PROTEAS WIN SERIES
AFP, BIRMINGHAM, England
South Africa captain Graeme Smith hit what he described as the best century of his career to lead his team to a series-clinching victory on the fourth day of the third Test against England at Edgbaston on Saturday.
Smith made an unbeaten 154 as South Africa won by five wickets to take a winning 2-0 lead in the four-Test series.
“I’ve had some meaningful innings in my life, but with the whole situation and for the people back home, it’s bigger than just us, this victory. I’d have to say it’s my best innings,” Smith said.
England counterpart Michael Vaughan said defeat was a bitter blow, but paid tribute to Smith.
“We’ve all just witnessed a very, very special innings. The way Graeme Smith came out and played was as good as I’ve seen anyone chase down that sort of target under that sort of pressure,” Vaughan said.
South Africa were set 281 to win, by 70 runs the highest successful fourth innings chase in a Test match at Edgbaston and South Africa’s fourth highest of all time. It was South Africa’s first series win in England since 1965 and ended a sequence of three series in the country in which they failed to capitalize after going one Test up.
The victory seemed unlikely when South Africa slumped to 93 for four, with two of the wickets falling to balls from Andrew Flintoff that the batsmen did not see. But Smith survived the collapse and found able partners in A.B. de Villiers (27), who helped him put on 78 for the fifth wicket, and Mark Boucher (45 not out), who shared an unbeaten 112-run stand for the sixth wicket.
“I never lost confidence,” Smith said. “I knew we just needed one or two partnerships. I was focusing on 10 runs at a time, thinking, ‘let’s just get close.’”
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