The Hindu : Sport : Michael Vaughan calls it a day

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Michael Vaughan calls it a day

He led England to a national record 26 Test wins in 51 games

BIRMINGHAM: Former England captain Michael Vaughan announced his retirement from all professional cricket with immediate effect here at Edgbaston on Tuesday.

The 34-year-old batsman led England to a national record 26 Test wins from 51 matches, notably the victorious 2005 Ashes campaign against Australia.

“After a great deal of consideration, I’ve decided that now is the right time to retire from cricket,” Vaughan said. “It has been an enormous privilege to have played for and captained my country and this is one of the hardest decisions I have had to make.

“Having played almost non-stop for sixteen seasons, I feel that the time is right for the focus to shift to the next generation. We have some fantastic talent coming through the English counties and, with the next Ashes series upon us, now is the time for the younger players to rise to the challenge of building on the success achieved in English cricket in the last few years.”

Last week, Vaughan was left out of England’s 16-man training squad for the upcoming Ashes series after having struggled to find form for Yorkshire in the county championship. He has scored only 147 runs in seven first-class innings this season.

Sincere thanks

“I’d like to record my sincere thanks to the England fans and the ECB and the members and supporters of Yorkshire County Cricket Club for their unstinting backing throughout my career as well as my wife Nicola and the rest of my family who have been equally supportive.

“I’m also extremely grateful to all of the players, managers, coaches, media and administrators I’ve worked with, who have all contributed to making my career so enjoyable and fulfilling.

“I’d also like to wish Andrew Strauss and the current England team success in this Ashes series. I know they have the drive, ambition and abilities to repeat the success from 2005. Winning that series was most definitely the highpoint of my career.”

Strauss’s plaudits

Current England captain Strauss said: “I count Michael as a good friend as well as a teammate and I know what a tough decision this will have been for him as he took so much pleasure and pride in representing his country.

“I learned a great deal from watching him captain the side for five years at close hand and his ability to identify a new strategy for outwitting the opposition or bring the best out of his own players was a priceless asset.

“But more than anything we as players will miss the enormous sense of fun and enjoyment that Michael brought to the dressing room,” the opening batsman added.

“He will be missed by everyone connected with the team and we wish him every success in his future career.”

Born to be captain

Michael Vaughan was lauded by Andrew Flintoff as someone “born to be England captain”.

“Playing under ‘Vaughanie’, I probably had the best moments of my career so far,” Flintoff said.

“He got the best out of me. As a captain, he was someone you obviously admire and respect. He’s England’s best ever captain statistically and not a bad batter as well.

“Michael Vaughan was huge to me. I remember one of the first things he said to me, coming in at The Wanderers to play South Africa in that huge series when 60,000 people were looking as if they were going to kill me,” said Kevin Pietersen.

“He walked up to me in the middle of the wicket and said: “The ball is white the ball is round, you know what you’ve done to get here, just watch it as hard as you can.”

ECB grateful

ECB chairman Giles Clarke said: “everyone associated with cricket in England and Wales will be forever grateful to Michael Vaughan for his immense contribution to the England team’s success.

“His achievement in leading England to victory against the number one ranked team in the world, Australia in 2005, was arguably the finest by any England captain in the modern era.”

Vaughan’s record as captain during his five-year spell in charge from 2003-2008 of 26 victories, 11 defeats and 14 draws, make him England’s most successful skipper in terms of overall wins.

Vaughan scored 5,719 Test runs in 82 matches at an average of 41.44 with 18 hundreds and a best of 197 against India at Trent Bridge in 2002. — Agencies

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