(posted 7565 days ago)Vaughan must take charge after last Test
By Scyld Berry (Filed: 27/07/2003)Telegraph
The pavilion balcony at the Oval is the traditional English setting for triumphs and farewells. The recovery of the Ashes in 1926, 1953 and 1985 was celebrated there. Since Sir Donald Bradman walked off the field into retirement in 1948, many famous cricketers from various countries have chosen that balcony from which to acknowledge the cheers then wave goodbye forever.But it has also been the setting for the loudest booing which English cricket has provoked from its own supporters. In 1999 England managed to lose a series at home to New Zealand for the first time, and when Nasser Hussain was called upon to be interviewed as the losing captain, the boos - born of long frustration at the way England's cricket had been mismanaged - contrasted with the roars which had greeted Percy Chapman and Jack Hobbs, Len Hutton and Alec Bedser, David Gower and Ian Botham, and which still echo down the years at Kennington.
Four years on, the fifth Test against South Africa will be the time for Hussain to stand down as England's captain if Michael Vaughan desires to combine the Test and one-day captaincies this winter, whatever the result of the current series. If Vaughan is to get his feet under the table by the Ashes home series of 2005, which should be the priority, he needs 18 months of experience; and if England fare slightly less well in Sri Lanka and the West Indies this winter than they would have under Hussain - England's series in Bangladesh should be a formality - it is a price worth paying for a captain sufficiently equipped to have a realistic chance of beating Australia.
It is nearly autumn, and Hussain is wise enough to know it. If England win this series - as I still expect them to do, not in spite but because of the urgent alarm call of the opening day - Hussain will deserve to go out at the top. If South Africa are beaten, his achievement will have been to elevate England to the same plane as all the other major Test countries apart from Australia, after being dubbed "the worst team in the world" in the wake of the defeat by New Zealand. And if England lose this series, it will be time for Hussain to go anyway.
The transitional period this summer, the time of two kings, seems to have served its purpose. Vaughan has already admitted that the demands of being England's one-day captain have been far more taxing off the field than on it, which is good: it means that all the people demanding a piece of the new man, wanting interviews for television, magazines and newspapers, clamouring for autographs and photographs, have been largely satisfied. The novelty is wearing off; the lifestyle mags won't be wanting Vaughan to pose again, at least until Australia have been beaten.
In Bangladesh, after his wedding, Vaughan will be able to concentrate on his cricket; so, too, in Sri Lanka before Christmas, where again the media won't be so intrusive. Then he will have a two-month break - a respite never granted to Hussain - before England's tour of the West Indies from March to May. And if it all gets too much for Vaughan in the course of the winter, if the job completely ruins his own performance, there should always be Hussain to fall back on in the Test side.
One of the very few areas of the game in which England have been pioneers is in re-assimilating captains in the ranks. Graham Gooch set the example in never rocking the boat; Alec Stewart and Mike Atherton followed. There is no reason to think that Hussain would stir up the England dressing-room after handing over to Vaughan: at Essex, although club captain in name, he has batted under Ronnie Irani, and scored heavily this season, too.
Provided Hussain retains his desire, he should retain his Test place for at least the coming winter as England's most consistent batsman over the last two years. Since breaking a finger against Australia in 2001, he has scored 46, 55, 52 and 2 at home to Australia; 85, 12, 1, 50 and 43 in India; 106, 11, 66, 13*, 2 and 82 in New Zealand; 57, 68, 22 and 16 at home to Sri Lanka; 155, 12, 3, 25, 110 and 10 at home to India; 51, 11, 47, 10, 8, 61, 24, 23, 75 and 72 in Australia; and 19 and 18 against Zimbabwe, before this game.
For four years, too, he has yapped and barked at his bowlers, roasted errant fielders with word or glare, and kept England up to the mark. Which is why the opening day at Edgbaston was so surprising. For the first time, against a Test side other than Australia, Hussain had no control in the field: all day his bowlers bowled on both sides of the wicket, while he maintained full control of himself instead of letting the passion hang out.
The moment may come for Vaughan's mild manner, but not yet. Not until this series has been won. Not until Hussain has walked on to the pavilion balcony at the Oval, acknowledged the applause of spectators standing on the outfield, and shaken hands with the ghosts of his predecessors.