Strauss not ruling out Vaughan return

Andrew Strauss has had a miserable couple of weeks, captaining England to four straight defeats against Sri Lanka © Getty Images

England's stand-in one-day captain, Andrew Strauss, has insisted that Michael Vaughan's career is far from over and refused to rule out the possibility of Vaughan leading England in the Ashes this winter. Yesterday, it was confirmed Vaughan would receive further surgery on his troublesome knee and would be out of cricket for between six and nine months.

"Anyone who rules Michael Vaughan out of making a return to the England side would be wrong," Strauss said. "Knowing the character he is and knowing how much he still wants to play for England, I think it would be very wrong for anyone to view the side as moving on from Michael Vaughan."

Strauss has been a "stand-in for a stand-in" after Andrew Flintoff, Vaughan's original replacement when he withdrew from England's tour of India, was yet another player ruled out of the current one-day series against Sri Lanka. Strauss, despite losing four successive matches against a buoyant Sri Lanka side, is confident he has the credentials to lead England in Tests should he be asked.

"I've said before it's a massive honour to captain England and if the job was offered to me I'd do it," he said. "Captaining any side is a tough job, which is why not everyone wants to do it and captaining England is an even tougher job.

"But it's a great challenge and, if things do go well, there is a massive upside to it as well.

"It's been tough," he admitted, "but I still maintain you learn a lot more about yourself and others when things aren't going well. It's not ideal to have stand-in captains and I have been a stand-in for a stand-in [Flintoff] which is far from ideal.

"It's never going to be a slight on me if someone else was selected to do the job but, at the same time, I do feel I've got something to offer."