: Sun Jun 28, 2009 11:15 pm  

I think this was inevitable, in a way I am surprised it has taken this long - rumours were circulating that he was about to pack it in when he had his first niggle this year but I think that carrot of a possible Ashes place just about kept him going.

In hindsight he should probably have retired when he gave up the England captaincy - I think I said on here at the time that it would be interesting to see how many players who had been on the central contracts for a few years would drift back into the county game once those contracts and test cricket have gone, and I think this sort of situation could become the norm when more players who have been centrally contracted for a while come to the end of their England days.

As for Vaughan himself I think he was the most elegant English batsman of his time, probably since Gower, and I really did enjoy watching him bat when he was playing well - even though he never really took to the 1 day game a century he scored at Old Trafford to knock Lancs out of the cup back in 2004(?) was one of the best I have seen live, full of sensational stroke-play in the traditional sense.

Not many batsman in recent years have handled the all-conquering Aussies as he did (averages about 48 in Ashes tests IIRC) and even though his batting suffered when he took on the England captaincy you could hardly say it affected us given his record doing that.

: Mon Jun 29, 2009 11:16 am  

It would have been nice to see him stick around and help bring some of the young batsmen at Yorkshire on (the likes of Gale, Sayers, Lyth, Bairstow etc could pick up a lot from spending a year or so around him).

: Mon Jun 29, 2009 11:30 am  

I presume that in the very short term most of his time will be taken up with crying.

: Mon Jun 29, 2009 11:41 am  

Billy Banter wrote:

I presume that in the very short term most of his time will be taken up with crying.

He'll do work for Kleenex.

: Mon Jun 29, 2009 12:00 pm  

A word class batsman
A world class captain

Sadly, neither of those happened at the same time, but as I've read elsewhere, it was like he took on the Aussies single handed back in 2003/4, and his captaincy was one of the main reasons we won the Ashes in 2005.

: Mon Jun 29, 2009 7:23 pm  

Shame he wasnt allowed a send off yesterday. Typical Yorkshire negative attitude. At any other county the coach would probably be thinking "Get him in, let him have a standing ovation and he'll probably play out of his skin" We just expect the worst.

: Mon Jun 29, 2009 10:46 pm  

I like Michael Vaughan, I think he was a fine batsman and a fine captain but I think we need to be careful about going overboard with the praise. He was a very good batsman for a 12 month period around 2002, he was a very good captain who presided over a successful England team for about a two year period 2003-05. Comparitively brief on both counts.

: Mon Jun 29, 2009 11:41 pm  

Lord_Percy wrote:

A word class batsman
A world class captain

Sadly, neither of those happened at the same time, but as I've read elsewhere, it was like he took on the Aussies single handed back in 2003/4, and his captaincy was one of the main reasons we won the Ashes in 2005.

Agree with all of that. His batting in the 03/04 series was nothing short of world class, as good as you could ever wish to see. Also his cpataincy during the 2005 Ashes was outstanding and I certainly don't think we would have won it with any other captain in charge.

: Tue Jun 30, 2009 12:12 am  

Lord_Percy wrote:

A word class batsman
A world class captain

Sadly, neither of those happened at the same time, but as I've read elsewhere, it was like he took on the Aussies single handed back in 2003/4, and his captaincy was one of the main reasons we won the Ashes in 2005.

Harsh he played well as a player in the 2005 ashes series. He hit 166 IIRC in the first innings at the Old Trafford test.

Good player, great captain and has a big future as a coach IMO.

: Tue Jun 30, 2009 10:41 am  

- Neil - wrote:

Harsh he played well as a player in the 2005 ashes series. He hit 166 IIRC in the first innings at the Old Trafford test.

Good player, great captain and has a big future as a coach IMO.

Didn't he score a 100 in both innings at OT?