England need to swallow their egos
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
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“Just go out and play your natural game,” he [Michael Vaughan] likes to say. “Express yourself.” But Test cricket is not that simple. It is time England swallowed their egos and started playing the situation, writes Geoffrey Boycott in the Daily Telegraph.
Vaughan has to accept responsibility for the shambles at Headingley. Captaincy takes many forms: it includes setting the right fields, dealing with personalities, and leading from the front with bat or ball. But just as important is the guidance a captain gives his players in the dressing room, explaining how he expects them to play. Vaughan has to tell his batsmen to abandon this one-size-fits-all approach, and show a bit more brains.
Boycott also sees "a touch of Gary Sobers in [Stuart] Broad" and says it was wrong to play Darren Pattinson.
Also in the Daily Telegraph, Derek Pringle lists five ways England can turn the tables on South Africa at Edgbaston.
Find the right role for Flintoff: He has returned to a hero's welcome, but without a hero's role to play. In fact, Flintoff's function in the team appears confused. Is he seen as an all-rounder who can take the odd wicket and be depended on to make runs when needed, or as a strike bowler who can slog the odd fifty?
"I have to say I found the selection of Darren Pattinson very strange," writes Duncan Fletcher in the Guardian. "That is no disrespect to him, and he didn't actually bowl all that badly at Headingley, but as a captain it is vital you go out there with a team you feel comfortable with. It was surprising enough when he was brought into the squad after only 11 first-class games but even more incredible when they actually gave him a Test debut."
Also in the Guardian, Mike Selvey writes: "I'm not sure whether to feel sorrier for Darren Pattinson or Michael Vaughan. On the one hand we have a man - not a "lad" or a "promising youngster" - plucked bemused from obscurity with every chance of returning there, and on the other, the captain of England with an opening bowler on whom he had never clapped eyes until Pattinson rolled up at Headingley on Thursday."
Nasser Hussain, writing in The Daily Mail believes there has been too much passing the buck over the selection of Pattinson for the second Test.
The bottom line is that the selectors chose to bring Darren Pattinson into the squad but it was Michael Vaughan, as captain, and coach Peter Moores who decided he should be included in the side.
The whole point of having Miller as a full-time national selector is to be answerable for all selections so, instead of talking about the issue on Monday night, Vaughan should have referred all questions to the man with overall responsibility.
Should England replace Ambrose behind the stumps? Micky Stewart, a former England team manager, says yes while Richard Blakey, the former England and Yorkshire wicketkeeper, disagrees. Click here to read their debate.
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo