The Ashes Blog

I thought I’d try and put together a playing list of recent Australian and English players who have struggled to play as much cricket as they would like because of various injuries. Some seem to spend half their life on the bench, whilst others have experienced occasional injuries but have nevertheless missed out on some big moments. Here’s my Injured Ashes XI:

1. Marcus Trescothick
2. Phil Jaques
3. Michael Vaughan (c)
4. Shane Watson
5. Andrew Symonds
6. Andrew Flintoff
7. James Foster (w)
8. Brett Lee
9. Simon Jones
10. Shaun Tait
11. Bryce McGain

Not a bad playing list, but do you think all eleven could be simultaneously fit for a game??! And how many of these guys will play a Test in the 2009 Ashes series?

Michael Vaughan, the part-time miracle worker from Yorkshire, has been selected in a 25 man squad for the 2009 Ashes series. Some people, especially writers at England’s Guardian newspaper, think that Vaughan should play regardless of how many runs he makes. Others go even further:

“There is a rumour that KP and Freddie will be rested for the Ashes if Vaughan is fit. No point risking their fitness when Vaughan is around to win the game.

Andrew Strauss might as well be shot; he is just that superfluous now. England don’t even need a coach, Vaughan is back, save your money ECB, in fact the ECB is no longer necessary, Vaughan is here to plug all gaps and make everything better.”
- Michael Vaughan is here to win the Ashes: Crikey

Ok, so that’s a bit over the top. The real issue is whether there is another capable player who can win matches batting at number 3 for England in the same way that Vaughan could. Who are the other contestants? Owais Shah (not enough runs at Test level), Ravi Bopara (batting average of 24 just not good enough), and Ian Bell (former wunderkind who has been struggling lately). With competition like that, Michael Vaughan would appear to be a near certainty, with or without his signature walking stick.

A few days ago a newspaper article appeared in The Guardian quoting Michael Vaughan criticising Andrew Flintoff’s drunken adventure in the Caribbean. In the article Vaughan suggests that he’d have done a much better job at captaining the side if it weren’t for Mr Flintoff and the death of Bob Woolmer … however, I think we can ignore the issue of Bob Woolmer’s death as everyone at the World Cup had to deal with that so England was not unique in that regard.

Naturally enough, this criticism of England’s Super Fred has caused quite a furore, with Lancashire’s CEO saying that Vaughan’s comments were “despicable”, and now Vaughan is saying he was misquoted, a claim The Guardian denies.
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In the Book of Matthew, Jesus Christ outlined a form of prayer that we know as The Lord’s Prayer. He said that this was a good place to start as a model for how we should pray. Here, then, is a Prayer for England:

Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy Name.
Duncan came, his will was done,
Getting Giles and Jones in the team.
Give us this day our daily rumour about Michael Vaughan returning soon,
And lead KP not into temptation,
But deliver him from Warnie.
For Pietersen thinks he is the greatest player who has ever lived,
And Simon Jones seems to be injured for ever and ever.
Amen.

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.

Michael Vaughan is attempting to get himself ready for the demands of international cricket after more than 6 months out of the game. He returned to the field yesterday in a game for the England Academy against Western Australia’s second XI. Batting at number 3, he was dismissed for a duck, and the rest of his team mates didn’t fare much better. Chasing 218 for victory, they slumped to 5 for 12 … and these are the players on the fringe of playing for their country?!! The ended up losing the game by 40 runs.

I’m sure England fans and the man himself would have loved a big score to show that he really is close to Test standard, but it didn’t quite work out that way. Surely he has a lot of work ahead of him, and it would seem to me that aiming at a return for the 3rd or 4th Test seems a little premature.