Real leadership is not just battle cries and aggression

Stephen Fleming and Michael Vaughan have much in common, writes Peter Roebuck in The Age. Apart from being lanky and looking like James Bond, both convey an inner peace balanced by a fierce competitive streak.

It has been illuminating to watch these tacticians hatch their plans. A keen understanding of their opponents lay behind their strategies. Both appreciated the need to turn Australian aggression back on itself, so that it became a self-destructive force. Both realised that the Aussies would not, could not, hold back. In strife, they'd double the stakes.