The Ashes Blog

It looks like Michael Vaughan will be welcomed back as captain and opening batsman for the one day internationals in January. I can’t see why they are doing this. They rushed Flintoff and Giles back after a long time out of the game due to injury, and they performed at less than 100 per cent. England can’t afford to have Vaughan playing at anywhere less than full capacity, as he’s not that great when it comes to the one day stuff anyway. He’s played 74 matches and has a top score of 90no, with a batting average just over 28. Hardly world domination. His last international game was back in July 2005, against the Australians. Vaughan was run out for 15. More recently he has played against a Western Australian second XI, where the (former??) England captain made 14. Prior to that he had scores of 9 and 0 on this tour.

Indeed, questions are being asked of why Vaughan has been so close to the England team when he is unable to play in the Test series. His presence, according to Andrew Miller, is “veering towards the supernatural”.

Michael Vaughan – the ghost who walks … with a limp.

Duncan Fletcher is positive about Vaughan’s progress:
“He is moving around very freely and he said he hasn’t felt as good for some time, which is great.”

Of course he hasn’t felt that good for some time … the guy went through knee surgery. He was on crutches. The fact that he can walk is an improvement when compared with that, so I wouldn’t be getting too excited about this ‘positive’ news.

Then there’s Freddie Flintoff, who has openly stated his desire to retain the captaincy throughout the tour, and that includes the ODIs:

“If the job is available I would love to keep it but we will have to see what happens.”
- Andrew Flintoff

Please, England, stick with Freddie. You might have lost the Ashes, but that wasn’t his fault. He just happened to be the captain in charge when England came up against a talented, experienced, and determined Australia.