...Please, do the decent thing and RETIRE from international cricket.
Thank you.
Cook.
This becomes the issue, if he goes, who becomes Captain?
Rob Key. Unlucky to be dropped last time around; experienced captain who's done well for Kent and who has got a few runs this season.
Cook. Got all the qualities of a captain. He has application, is intelligent and is an automatic selection IMO
Rob Key. Unlucky to be dropped last time around; experienced captain who's done well for Kent and who has got a few runs this season.
Oh god no. Was he unlucky last time around? He's got a Test average of 31, from 15 matches. Take out his 221 against a particularly bad (at the time) West Indies and his average plunges to 23. In 25 other Test innings he only past 50 three times, and made no other centuries.
Besides which, can you imagine the reaction of the other players if you bought a player in specifically to be captain?
edit: all stats courtesy of cricinfo. I'm not that sad!
So Vaughan has scored 21, 2, 0 and 0 in this series. He's had one good test with the bat in his last 9, 1 ton and 1 fifty in his last 13 inns. He's 33 years old, but still a very good captain.
I think there's a case for dropping him down the order to 5 or 6 where he'll come in facing the older ball, get set for when the seond new ball arrives.
Bell could easily move to 3. That also reduces the chances of Bell and Collingwood batting together which can bog us down.
What you want, ideally, is to replicate the Taylor handover to the young Ponting with Vaughan handing over to Cook. But Vaughan needs runs and he doesn't look like getting them at 3 right now. Dropping him in the middle of the series with the Ashes looming is potential disastrous.