Ashes 2009- Vaughan wants England to go for No.1 ranking in Tests
Even as his side is inching towards regaining the Ashes, former captain Michael Vaughan wrote in his column in ‘The Daily Telegraph’. said the next target for Andrew Strauss should be to become the world number one Test side.
Praising Strauss Vaughan wrote, “I now hope England can build a team capable of beating Australia in Australia in two years’ time and become the best side in the world. We did not manage that in 2005. A variety of circumstances worked against us and the opportunity was missed. We thought everything was rosy. It wasn’t. Now the chance has presented itself again and in some ways I believe we are in a stronger position to take our opportunity than we were four years ago.”
Averring on the debutant Jonathan Trott who hit a chanceless hundred, Vaughan said that Trott added meat to the England middle order and once Kevin Pietersen returned from injury, they would be a much better outfit.
“Jonathan Trott‘s performance on debut is such an encouraging sign and when you slip Kevin Pietersen back into the middle order we look a strong team. Trott’s determination, guts and talent at five may well free up Pietersen and take the pressure off his shoulders. Add in Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad, James Anderson and we have a core to the team that has years left in the tank,” he said.
Vaughan had to eat his words back on his opinion of Stuart Broad. “He now has the potential to be one of England’s great cricketers. However, the key is for him not to become sidetracked by celebrity. After such a performance in a massive match he will be a mini-superstar wherever he goes in this country. So far he has been very good at focusing on his cricket and if he sticks to that then he can become the best all-rounder in the world. We should drop the comparisons with Andrew Flintoff. He is a different player. Fred was a more structured batsman. Broad is the kind of guy to want to carve out his own niche,” Vaughan explained.
Even if England win the Ashes, Vaughan opined that all was not good with English cricket. “If England go on to win the Test match and the Ashes, then I really hope people do not think everything is right with English cricket. We will have won the Ashes only because we were able to play slightly better than Australia at one or two key moments. That debate should still happen. We should still look at the structure of our domestic competitions, reduce the amount of cricket played and change things for the better. Let’s not miss this opportunity,” he added.
If you ask me, Vaughan had a team that had stalwarts and if one compares it with Strauss’ team, it has players who have performed well in patches and it can be a better team in all three formats of the game only if it performs consistently against all sides in all forms. Or else, it will be difficult to fulfill the demands of the fans who would expect the side to do well and return home unimpressed.
