I guess the selectors are hoping that the responsibility that comes with leadership will rein in some of his more extravagant batting manoeuvres.

It's also true that there were no other suitable candidates. Andrew Flintoff had already ruled himself out – probably a year after the rest of us did – Andrew Strauss is barely worth his place in the side and neither is Paul Collingwood despite his second innings heroics at Edgbaston.

Bowlers rarely make good skippers (obviously with the exception of Ajaz Akhtar), we haven't got a wicket-keeper who can keep and bat at Test level and Alistair Cook has no relevant captaincy experience.

It's a right conundrum especially with The Ashes on the horizon.


CLEARLY Michael Vaughan should have been sacked rather than allowed to resign as skipper. That would have been worth crying about.

Vaughan had turned into Mike Brearley, an astute captain who couldn't score runs at the highest level, but at least he had Ian Botham to do the jobs of two men.

Vaughan now plays far too loosely to bat at number three against decent bowlers so it's time for him to leave Test cricket altogether and write his own memoirs before the Ashes series of 2005 becomes too distant a memory.


AND what was all the blubbing about? It's a fact that real men don't cry.

I remember laughing my socks off when Aussie skipper Kim Hughes cried at a press conference.

In these days of excessive sledging, it's an open goal which will be accepted by even the dimmest of players.

If Vaughan had become this soft in the dressing room, it's no wonder his players weren't performing for him.


OF course England weren't helped in the Edgbaston Test by the gross incompetence of the umpires, particularly Aleem Dar who often looked like a rabbit caught in headlights.

But maybe if Monty Panesar cut back on his appealing, both in terms of regularity and volume, then umpires might look on him a bit more kindly.

Panesar was wrongly denied two match-winning decisions against South African skipper Graeme Smith by dozy Dar, but it's hard to be sympathetic when he shouts and remonstrates like a madman every time the ball brushes a pad.


WATCHING cricket is always a joy though and that is down in part to the commentaries.

Every now and again I am hammered for loving our national sport, but that's not a problem because cricket tends to attract the intelligent and the witty, unlike say, football which is the home of the dim and foul-mouthed.

Sports punditry proves my point rather well. Michael Atherton, Nasser Hussain and Michael Holding not only have the respect from having played at the highest level, but they also have the brains to articulate their thoughts brilliantly.

Admittedly Ian Botham is a bit thick, but as a national hero and legend we can accept that.

In contrast football 'experts' are either stupid and inarticulate (Ian Wright) or just plain dull (everyone else).