Michael Vaughan the clear frontrunner for England cricket director post
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Version 0 of 1. When it’s all going pear-shaped and heads have to roll, those who score no runs and take no wickets are the most vulnerable. So farewell Paul Downton; Peter Moores beware. Neither of these men was out on the field in Adelaide when England were incapable of defeating Bangladesh in a decisive World Cup match, but that does not keep them out of the firing line. Meanwhile, most of those combatants from the Adelaide debacle are now in the Caribbean, preparing for a Test match and pondering who their new bosses may be when they return home. Downton was especially vulnerable. He has been pilloried as a public school suit. Technically this was correct – he went to public school and was never sighted in a tracksuit over the last 14 months – but it was not fair. He was, in fact, the grittiest of cricketers, who batted tenaciously for hours against the best of the West Indies pacemen in the 1980s with little obvious reward and who was dutifully conscientious when catapulted into his new role with the ECB in February 2014. However, he was out of touch. Stints on the Middlesex committee were never going to be a surefire way to stay engaged with the professional game he left in 1991. To judge Kevin Pietersen by his impressions of one Test match in Sydney out of the 104 Pietersen has played (had to think about my tenses there) was a mistake. He could only sieve the opinions of others and the unprecedented decision to sack Pietersen, rather than simply retain the option to drop him, would come to haunt him. The departure of Downton and the misgivings about Moores are not a great advert for the headhunting profession or the interview process. Giles Clarke, the ECB chairman now about to become its president, was quick to champion Downton upon his appointment just as Downton, after completing an exhaustive interview process, declared that Moores was the “outstanding coach of his generation”. Now the unwritten requirement for the new post of cricket director seems to be some experience as captain of England, which narrows the field down a bit. Andrew Flintoff and Pietersen may not be at the top of the list being examined by the new brooms at the ECB. Meanwhile, Mike Atherton and Nasser Hussain, who both have much to offer, are contented in their media roles. Clare Connor qualifies but would be a very surprising appointment, though not such a preposterous one. However, the expectation is that the choice will be between Andrew Strauss, Alec Stewart and Michael Vaughan, with Vaughan the firm favourite. The Pietersen issue looms large, though this will be relevant only in the immediate future of the new director. Here we can surmise – if only on the evidence delivered by an innocent, open microphone last summer – that Strauss would be inclined to steer clear of any KP return, while Stewart and Vaughan would be open to reintegration, for want of a much better phrase. Stewart currently manages Pietersen at Surrey, while Vaughan has stressed that “it’s all a matter of man-management” when discussing whether Pietersen should have a future as an England player. Vaughan recently suggested that Pietersen had a “10% chance” of playing for England again. That figure has risen in the last 72 hours. No doubt Stewart would relish the England role – just as George W Bush was eager to follow his father into another Oval office – but the likelihood is that the job is there for the taking for Vaughan if he wants it. Vaughan has been something of a cricketing guru to Colin Graves, the incoming ECB chairman, and there is always an understandable yearning to appoint someone you know. Moreover, Vaughan was a successful England captain before and during the greatest Test series ever played. He is not short of opinions and confidence, which might be handy in the new job; he likes a bit of political manoeuvring and prides himself on his man-management. He worked well with Pietersen when he was captain, though it should be noted that it is always much easier managing precocious superstars at the start of their careers than towards the end. Vaughan would enjoy the jousts with the media rather more than his predecessor – just as he has enjoyed his time in the media over the last five years when he has been ubiquitous and irrepressible. Being cricket director would be much trickier than being a commentator on the game, in print or at the microphone. In the media, opinions and hypothetical decisions might last for 24 hours and then they can be conveniently forgotten or redrafted. Which, as Downton and Moores have discovered, is not the case at the sharp end. Vaughan has ideas and the confidence to implement them. His appointment might see the disbanding of the panel of selectors, for example, a function that he would take on himself but his most important task, like Downton’s, would be appointing and liaising with the coach of the England team. After that I suspect that his biggest challenge, given that he likes to be constantly involved, would be giving that coach sufficient space to let him get on with the job. The prospect of Vaughan as cricket director may not lead to Moores and Alastair Cook summoning up a rum punch, unless it is as a source of consolation. Vaughan has already written that Moores would be better off coaching promising teenagers rather than the England team, while his relationship with Cook has become ever more strained in recent times. It was not that long ago (mid-summer 2014) that Vaughan was calling for Cook to removed as Test captain. This all adds a bit more spice to the forthcoming Test series against West Indies. If Vaughan does get the job it seems as if Moores and Cook would have to deliver well-nigh flawless performances in the Caribbean to be sure of survival. Certainly they would have to be victorious. The Antigua Test, the first in a three-match series, starts on Monday and everyone hopes it lasts a little longer than the last time England played at the Viv Richards Stadium in 2009. That game lasted 10 balls before it was abandoned because the outfield was disintegrating into sand dunes. Jonathan Trott may be grateful for all the hullabaloo over the England management since this gives him the chance of returning to the Test arena without being scrutinised too intently. Even so, there is a lot at stake for England’s two opening batsmen. Trott will not be the only man in Antigua eager to resume an interrupted Test career. Ben Stokes will return to the Test team; so too will James Tredwell after his solitary outing in Dhaka five years ago. There is also the outside chance of Adil Rashid making his Test debut if there is a case for playing a second spinner rather than a fourth seamer. There is a doubt – another one – about Stuart Broad’s fitness while Jimmy Anderson needs only three wickets to equal Ian Botham’s haul of 383 Test victims. Meanwhile, all the action will be watched and interpreted by Vaughan up in the Test Match Special commentary box, which has become quite a newsworthy venue in recent times – except when the older guard is on air. |