Birthday special: Michael Vaughan – A classic English batsman and a capable leader
The Ashes is the pinnacle for the Australian and English cricketers. Both the teams fight tooth and nail to take home the urn. While the teams were equally competitive for most of the initial years, the period from 1986 to 2004 saw Australia completely dominate and win 8 series in a row. England needed something and someone extraordinary to be able to defeat a seemingly invincible Australia of the 2000s. Michael Vaughan was that miracle.
Born on 29th October 1974, Michael Vaughan ended up playing 82 Tests and 86 ODIs for England, and is regarded as one of their greatest captains ever. Vaughan made his Test debut in 1999 and scored 5719 runs with 18 100s. His ODI career wasn’t as illustrious. He played his first game in 2001 and he could manage only 1982 runs in the format, without a single ton. Vaughan started off as an opener and scored most of his runs at the top of the order. He had a wonderful, watertight technique, and while he wasn’t the most pleasing to the eye, he scored a bucketload of runs. After a great start to his career, Vaughan was appointed the skipper of England in 2003 in both the formats. Thus began Vaughan’s second chapter in cricket.
Under Vaughan, England became a team to reckon with, especially in Tests. They beat the West Indies away from home for the first time since 1968. They then won all seven home Tests against New Zealand and the West Indies, before beating South Africa away for the first time since 1965.
Ashes glory of 2005
But his ultimate Test as captain was against the Aussies in the 2005 Ashes. And he aced it. England and Australia played a riveting 5-match Test series, in which England emerged victorious with a 2-1 scoreline. The series also involved a 2-run win for England. This series is till date regarded the best Test series ever played. England finally defeated the mighty Australians and took home the urn and Michael Vaughan was the nation’s sweetheart. The series is best remembered for Vaughan’s aggressive captaincy and his backing of players like Kevin Pietersen. He is one of England’s most successful Test captains, leading them in 51 games and winning 26 of those.
While Vaughan kept rising through the ranks as a captain, his batting took a hit. He dropped himself down the order to accommodate Alastair Cook and Andrew Strauss as openers. His average dropped significantly from the mid-40s to 30s, and he lost form rapidly. The fact that he never prospered in ODIs, making it tougher for him to retain his spot as his form dipped.
After a prolonged loss of form in international as well county cricket, Vaughan decided to call it a day in 2009. But by the time he departed from the game, he had already left an ever-lasting impact on England as well as World Cricket. Today, he is a leading broadcaster of the game and also has very successful ventures outside the game. Happy Birthday, Michael Vaughan!
