Rob the Key to renewal

Funny how things come back to bite even the hardiest bum. But for English wariness, the review system trial that appears to have gone down so well in Colombo and Galle would have been in force during the Basil D’Oliveira series, in which case England might well have won the third Test and levelled a series that in all other respects showcased why modern Test cricket, at its most competitive and invigorating, is streets ahead of where it has ever been.

Indeed, had but one of the balls that James Anderson fizzed across a clueless, groping Graeme Smith during the opening phase of South Africa’s chase caught the edge they deserved, Poms might well be celebrating a remarkable comeback against a side, lest we forget, that could well end Australia’s seemingly interminable dominance before next year’s over-hyped and undermining A**** debate. That, though, would merely have papered over those widening cracks and deepening holes, which makes what actually happened, and their inevitable consequences, more desirable.

Michael Vaughan’s decision to step down was firmly in keeping with the man who has led England to more Test victories than any other captain. So long as his personal form refused to improve, the self-doubts that festered in New Zealand were bound to resurface sooner or later, and Vaughan has too much self-esteem to be able to cope with persistent failure. One wonders, with every cheap dismissal, how easy he found it to look at himself in the mirror, to accept that he wasn’t pulling his weight, wasn’t worth his place as a player. (And three 50-plus scores in 17 post-knee-op innings against strong attacks – Sri Lanka, India and South Africa – certainly infers as much.)

The last England captain obliged to confront this sort of brutal, unforgiving truth for an extended period was Mike Brearley, who was not only a good few years older than Vaughan - and hence less motivated to soldier on, to battle the demons and prolong the denial – but also far more aware of his own (admittedly greater) shortcomings as a batsman. “I had to struggle in Test cricket,” Brearley once confessed, “with an inner voice which told me I had no right to be there.” Vaughan has never been besieged by such a sense of inferiority. For the best part of four years he was demonstrably England’s best batsman. How fortunate, moreover, that when he did enter decline, in 2005, it coincided with the emergence of Kevin Pietersen, without whom the A**** would never have been regained.

Few would argue that Vaughan has not been one of the most intuitive and astute captains of the decade. With considerably fewer resources at his disposal, Stephen Fleming probably had the edge, though Mahela Jayawardene may yet be remembered with greater awe than either. Vaughan also had the good fortune to inherit, from Nasser Hussain, the bedrock of a good, going on very good, team. Since returning to the captaincy last summer, however, it has been hard to avoid the conclusion that his ability to inspire, his man-management, has faded.

Nowhere has this been plainer than in the case of Steve Harmison, the fully-motivated version of whom would surely have prevented South Africa from stacking up all those runs at Lord’s and Headingley, much less forestalled that record chase at Edgbaston. The suspicion those leadership skills were waning, though, stemmed from his indiscreet comments about the Fredalo affair made during an interview with the Guardian last year. Having said what possibly needed to be said, his subsequent attempts at denial were not so much daft and unworthy as indicative of the uncertainty that besets any leader-in-absentia.

It is also hard not to believe that Vaughan saw England’s failure to convert their revival at Edgbaston into victory as a personal one. Had it gone the other way, would he have resigned/been persuaded to step down (the jury’s still out on that one)? I doubt it. In victory he would surely have been emboldened, and perhaps inspired to reclaim form with the bat. More likely, he might have convinced himself he was fireproof, never a useful thing for a captain. Again, therefore, this particular cloud does not so much possess a silver lining as a golden one.

This, after all, is a golden opportunity, finally, to put some distance between the Peter Moores era and the Duncan Fletcher one, to give the latter his due and the former his head. Fletcher, with Nasser Hussain and later Vaughan as co-pilot, navigated England from the depths to the peaks. We are fast-approaching the third anniversary of that A**** triumph and only fleetingly, in Mumbai and at Old Trafford in 2006, have England - notwithstanding the fact that they have never since put that Oval XI into the field - approached that brand of intimidating swagger. It would be cruel to make too much of the fact that Vaughan was captain on neither occasion.

So, where to next? The fact that Paul Collingwood simultaneously renounced the one-day captaincy – always inevitable in the wake of the Grant Elliot business - leaves the way conveniently clear for the two roles to be united under one banner, the ideal scenario according to the national selector, Geoff Miller, and many more sages besides. There is a strong case in favour of maintaining the split duties, if only because that would allow Andrew Strauss to take over the five-day reins, but that step would be strictly and needlessly short-termist. Strauss has rallied strongly since his career was being obituarised in New Zealand, yes, but that steadily declining batting average makes it difficult to picture him enjoying the four-to-five-year reign enjoyed by the last four lengthy incumbents, namely Vaughan, Nasser Hussain, Mike Atherton and Graham Gooch.

Given that Alastair Cook is far too inexperienced and that burdening the barely-reborn Andrew Flintoff would make about as much sense as appointing Prince Andrew, only two plausible options remain, neither of which could be described as safe. On the one hand there is Pietersen, whose unstinting self-belief could well rub off on the younger players; on the other, Robert Key, the most respected skipper on the county circuit, both of whom warrant berths in the Test and limited-overs sides.

The risk with Pietersen is two-fold. One, the responsibility may lead to caution, introspection and introversion, and hence impair his genius as a batsman; two, rather than the confidence and adventurousness, it is the rashness that could rub off. It is worth remembering, too, how little leadership experience he has. It is also worth remembering that tendency, so evident in his pontifications about the IPL, to say one thing to one branch of the media then contradict himself without so much as a pause for breath. Being a maverick player is all very well; how many mavericks have enjoyed extensive periods of international success as leaders? Not Ian Botham, not Flintoff, not Carl Hooper. Australia never trusted Keith Miller and at least he had a track record with New South Wales.

Key has a number of compelling assets. In two-and-a-half seasons as captain of Kent, he has grown enormously in stature, among opponents as well as team-mates: a laid-back soul with the capacity to rouse; an enabler as well as an exemplar. Presiding over a county dressing room wherein the main contributors are Pakistani and South African and the rest mostly young ’uns is no easy matter, yet Kent have been this season’s most consistent outfit across all formats. He is also one of two batsmen – Owais Shah being the other – who could strengthen England’s shaky order at The Oval and beyond. And unlike Shah he would fit naturally and neatly into the top three.

But perhaps the biggest factor in Key’s favour is that he played no part whatsoever in the 2005 A****. Which means that he is not besotted with, coloured by nor reliant on the past. He cannot use it as a panacea, a means of consolation when times get tough and the rhymes rough. Not for him the regular self-affirming, and often self-deluding, reminders of heights attained. Not for him the knowledge that he is extremely unlikely to replicate them, collectively if not individually. Not for him the pot of gold reached prematurely.

It is not often that an outsider comes straight into an international dressing room as captain, and most of those – in keeping with this country’s unusual, traditional and mostly misplaced insistence on appointing captain then team - have been English. Tony Lewis and Keith Fletcher did so for the 1972-73 and 1981-82 tours of India respectively, and Chris Cowdrey for a single chapter of the 1988 Wisden Trophy rubber: none could be considered even a qualified success. Key, though, is firm friends with Flintoff, is fondly regarded by all and, most importantly, is worth his place strictly on playing ability, which is not something that could be said of Cowdrey, Fletcher or Lewis.

It would be a bold move to appoint Key, yes, but also a sensible one. Being told that history is there to be defied can only add to a challenge he would surely relish.