Michael Vaughan
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Source: [1], 24 March 2007 |
Michael Paul Vaughan OBE (Born 29 October 1974 in Manchester, England) is an English cricketer, and captain of the England cricket team. He plays county cricket for Yorkshire.
Early life
The Vaughan family moved from Manchester to Sheffield, South Yorkshire when Michael was nine years old. There Michael attended Silverdale School, where he started playing cricket for the school side and also for Sheffield Collegiate CC. He also started following Sheffield Wednesday Football Club.
Playing career
Vaughan, now living in Baslow (Derbyshire), turned up as a child to watch Yorkshire playing at Sheffield. During the tea interval, he was playing on the outfield with his friends when then Yorkshire head coach Doug Padgett spotted his natural ability from the balcony of the pavillion. He put down his cup of tea and went to get the boy's name and phone number. Unfortunately, Vaughan was born in Manchester, and at the time Yorkshire had a strict policy of only picking players that were born in Yorkshire. Years later, when the rule was relaxed, Doug Padgett re-investigated the young player, and got him to come to the academy. After watching him bat for 10 minutes, Padgett remarked, "Sign him."
A stylish batsman and occasional off spinner, Vaughan began playing professional cricket aged 17, and captained the England Under-19 cricket team on tour against Sri Lanka in 1993/4 and at home against India in 1994. He played his first Test match for England in South Africa in November 1999, with England in the parlous state of four wickets down for two runs. He soon demonstrated his maturity and flair as a batsman, particularly his trade-mark cover drive.
In May 2001 he scored his first Test Century against Pakistan at Old Trafford. In December 2001, in Bangalore, Vaughan became the second Englishman, after Graham Gooch, and the 8th and most recent player in Test match history, to be given out handled the ball in Tests.
In 2002, Vaughan scored 900 runs in seven Tests against Sri Lanka and India. This included 115 against Sri Lanka at Lord's during the first Test. During the series against India he scored a duck and 100 against India during the first Test at Lord's, and his highest innings score to date of 197 against India during the second Test at Nottingham and two Tests later during the fourth Test he scored 195 against India, again falling just short of a double-century. Later that year the English cricket team travelled to Australia for the 2002-03 Ashes series. It was here that Vaughan was to prove that he could perform against the best team in the world. He started poorly in the first Test at Brisbane with 33 and 0. But in the second Test at Adelaide he made a superb 177 and 41. During the fourth Test at Melbourne he made an aggressive 145 despite playing in a struggling England side. In the fifth and final Test at Sydney, Vaughan scored a spectacular match-winning 183 before being given out wrongfully lbw to Andy Bichel, as replays showed that not only was the ball missing leg stump but it was going over the stumps by a fair margin. He became the first visiting batsman for 32 years to score over 600 runs in a Test match series in Australia and the first Englishman to make 3 Test hundreds in a series against Australia since Chris Broad. In total, he scored 1,481 Test runs in 2002, the sixth highest for a calendar year in Test history (trailing the likes of Mohammad Yousuf's 1788 in 2006, Viv Richards's 1,710 in 1976 and Ricky Ponting's 1,544 in 2005). During this magnificent run of form, Vaughan rose to the number 1 batsman in the world, the first Englishman to achieve this since Graham Gooch.
Vaughan followed with a 156 against South Africa at Edgbaston in 2003. He was appointed Test captain in the next match, after Nasser Hussain stepped down. Vaughan's form has declined since; despite this, in July 2004, in the first Test against the West Indies, Vaughan became the eighth England player to score a century in each innings of a Test match.
During the 2005 Ashes series against Australia Vaughan's poor run form was attracting increasing criticism, despite his excellent captaincy. But during the third Test at Manchester he answered the critics, albeit with a bit of luck during a Glenn McGrath over. In the second ball of the over, when Vaughan was on 41, he cut hard at a wide delivery from McGrath and Gilchrist allowed it to slip through his gloves and run away for four runs. The very next ball McGrath clean bowled Vaughan with a superb off cutter, but this was in vain as the umpire called a no-ball for overstepping the line. Vaughan went onto strike a superb 166, punishing in particular the poor bowling of Jason Gillespie. Vaughan was eventually caught by Glenn McGrath off a full-toss delivery from Simon Katich. However, Vaughan passed 50 just once in the rest of the series, and made a solitary fifty in the two Tests in Pakistan in November 2005, after missing the first one through injury.
England captaincy
Vaughan was appointed captain of the England one-day international side in 2003, and suddenly became captain of the England Test team on 28th July 2003, after scoring a magnificent 156 in the first Test against South Africa, when Nasser Hussain resigned after England had narrowly clung on for a draw. The England team promptly lost his first Test in charge by an innings and 215 runs, but went on to level the series 2-2.
Vaughan's batting initially suffered under the increased pressures of captaincy, although expectations may also have been too high after his spectacular run of form in 2002: in his first twelve matches as captain, his batting average was only 30.31. However, under Vaughan's captaincy, the England side have become one of the most successful sides in world cricket. He benefited from the revolution begun by coach Duncan Fletcher and former captain Nasser Hussain, such as the awarding of central contracts to the core England players, and continued to forge a winning team.
In 2003, after the drawn series against South Africa, England toured South Asia, beating Bangladesh but losing to Sri Lanka. But in 2004, England were unbeaten, winning eleven matches and drawing two, including an England record of eight consecutive victories. They beat the West Indies away 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.
In the 2005 home season, England easily beat Bangladesh in a two-Test series, before facing Australia for the Ashes. Hopes were high after the success of the previous eighteen months, but expectations were moderated by the knowledge that Australia had been the best team in the world for many years. In the first Test, at Lord's, England were easily beaten, but they managed to win the second Test by two runs to level the series. England dominated the rain-affected drawn third Test, and won the fourth Test by three wickets. The fifth Test was also affected by the weather and ended in a draw, allowing England to claim The Ashes for the first time since Mike Gatting's side in the 1986/7 series in Australia.
The Ashes was England's sixth consecutive Test series victory. However, the winning sequence was broken when England were outplayed by Pakistan in Pakistan in November/December 2005, losing the three-match Test series 2-0.
As of 3 December, 2005, Vaughan has led England to 19 victories in 33 Test matches, drawing eight and losing only six. Of ten Test series, he has won seven, drawn one and lost two. However, England have continued to be less successful in one-day internationals; in 48 ODIs as captain, Vaughan has won 25 and lost 17 with two ties and four no-results.
Vaughan missed almost the entire 2006 season because of injury, including the Test series against India and Pakistan, as well as the 2006/7 Ashes series in Australia - a series which England lost 0 - 5. Vaughan returned as captain in January 2007 for the One-Day series involving England, Australia and New Zealand and for its curtain raiser a Twenty20 match versus Australia. Vaughan led England to two defeats in the Twenty20 and the first ODI versus Australia, but England under his leadership came back with a win versus New Zealand. In that match Vaughan pulled a hamstring and was out for five games before making a comeback and again leading England to victory against New Zealand.
Autobiographies
In November 2005, Michael released his book 'Calling The Shots' which describes man-management of the team as captain and his time as the England cricket captain so far.
It also describes his fractious relationship with the South African captain Graeme Smith. Vaughan alleged that Smith called him 'queer' and fellow team-mate Andrew Flintoff a 'big baby'. Moreover Smith acted as a witness during the trial of Vaughan's case with match-referee Clive Lloyd, where Vaughan had mildly (& correctly) rebuked the umpires for having called off play in bright conditions the previous day during a test match in Johannesburg, South Africa, which resulted in Vaughan being fined his entire match-fee. Afterwards he started referring to Smith as 'The Witness', and also accused him of playing to the cameras.
Vaughan had earlier written another book 'A Year in the Sun: The Captain's story', in which he describes his phenomenal and fortuitous year of 2002-03, experiencing Bradmanesque-form, plundering seven centuries in 12 Tests, en route to become the world's best Test batsman that year. He also describes his experiences as an England cricketer, bowling out Sachin Tendulkar (one of the finest players in the modern game) and the unforgettable World Cup fiasco in Zimbabwe, which led to England forfeiting important points and eventually any chance they had of winning the World Cup.
Vaughan's appointment as England captain after the 2003 World Cup brought a new fresh spirit and life in the England dressing room, leading to instant success in the one-day arena. As a result, Nasser Hussain resigned as England Test captain - and Vaughan took charge in Tests as well.
Family
Before moving to Baslow, Michael used to live in Sheffield along with his parents, Deidre and Graham. After the tumultuous and roller-coaster series against South Africa (when he was given the responsibility of England captaincy), Michael married his Irish childhood sweetheart Nichola Shannon (whom he had first met in 1987-88) on 27 September 2003 at Chatsworth House, the home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. On 4 June 2004, during the 2nd Test against New Zealand, he left Headingley in the middle of the game's proceedings to attend the birth of his first child, a girl, Tallula Grace, in Sheffield. He did not want to miss this significant event of his life, despite attracting widespread criticism from all corners, even his own parents. His own mother sarcastically remarked, "Nichola will be upset, but the country comes first." Even his father admitted a few days before the birth that he himself did not witness Vaughan's birth. This made Vaughan extremely determined to be present at the birth, come what may. He replied to all his detractors in an interview in October 2004, saying,"I was criticised for leaving an England match to attend the birth of my baby...I didn't give a toss." Michael has an older brother, David, who works as an estate agent.
Within a year of being rushed into what is described as 'the fifth most important job in England', Michael was loaded heavily with lots of major responsibilities, both on and off the field. He flew home from the 2005 tour in Pakistan to see specialists and have an operation for his on-going knee problems, and was able to be with his wife and attend the birth of their second child, a boy, Archie Matthew, born on 9 December 2005.
In 2006 Vaughan (who is a keen golfer) bought a house valued at £1million on a luxury golf course development in Barbados [2] and another on Isla Margarita [3]
Conclusion
On 10 December 2006, after England's warm-up game against Western Australia, Vaughan declared that he would not be taking any part in the Ashes (i.e., he ruled himself out of the Ashes) and would be getting himself fit for the Commonwealth Bank Series in January 2007 instead. On 7 January 2007, it was announced that Vaughan would captain England in the upcoming Commonwealth Bank Series. On 9 January 2007, Vaughan made a successful comeback to international cricket in a Twenty20 match against Australia in which he captained the England team, scored 27 runs off 21 balls, showing good touch in his strokeplay and suffered no discomfort in his right knee. However, on 16 January 2007 in the third ODI against New Zealand (of the Commonwealth Bank series), his injury jinx continued as he suffered a grade one tear to his left hamstring while fielding and was forced to call a runner while batting. This ruled him out of the next 3 matches (for 2 weeks) and he was expected to return to action on 30 January 2007 against New Zealand at Perth. Just a couple of days before that game, Vaughan strained his hamstring again in practice, delaying his return until the last match against New Zealand on 6th February 2007 at Brisbane. Although he was castled by Shane Bond by the first legitimate ball that he faced, he led England to a 14 run win which will see them line up against the Australians to decide the outcome of the CB Trophy. But on 8 February 2006, he was ruled out of the best-of-three finals due to aggravating the same hamstring injury in the previous game against New Zealand and will return back to England on Saturday and was advised to rest for 10 days. He was selected in the final 15 for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 in the Caribbean and also appointed captain on 14 February 2007.
Vaughan has committed himself to spend the remainder of his county career with Yorkshire C.C.C. although as an England centrally contracted player the contract is sufficiently open so that he can play for England whenever selected[1]. He has also been included and is captaining England's 15 man squad for the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup to be held in March-April 2007 in the Caribbean. He has taken the team through the group stages and is in the Super Eights.
Awards
Vaughan was chosen as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 2003 after his excellent batting in 2002.
In August 2005, the Sheffield Hallam University honoured him with an honorary doctorate for his services towards the game. September 2005 saw him being awarded the Freedom of the City of Sheffield after captaining England to victory in The Ashes.
In December 2005, the England cricket team was awarded the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Team Award. Vaughan was nominated for the Sports Personality of the Year individual award, but that went to his team-mate, Andrew Flintoff. On 31 December 2005, the entire Ashes-winning England cricket team was awarded the Queen's New Years' Honours, with Vaughan, team coach Duncan Fletcher and manager Phil Neale being honoured with OBEs and the rest of the side being awarded MBEs. He was also nominated in the Captain of the Year category for the 2006 ICC Awards (eventually awarded to Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene) which was held in Mumbai on 3 November 2006.
References
- ^ "Vaughan commits future to Tykes". BBC Sport. 2006-10-16. Retrieved 2006-10-16.
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See also
External links
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Stuart Broad was called up to replace Jon Lewis, who had to return home due to family problems. | ||
- 1974 births
- Living people
- English ODI cricketers
- English Test cricketers
- English Twenty20 International cricketers
- English cricket captains
- English cricketers
- English cricketers of the 21st century
- Officers of the Order of the British Empire
- Wisden Cricketers of the Year
- Yorkshire cricketers
- People from Sheffield
- Sportspeople from Manchester
- Alumni of Silverdale School (Sheffield)