Vaughan still has qualities to do a job for England
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
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It's a big blow for England that Michael Vaughan doesn't feel in the right frame of mind to tour India. People will wonder what I mean when they look at the difficult season he's had but I believe they will be in for a nasty shock if they really think he'll be easy to replace out there, writes Duncan Fletcher in the Guardian.
Successful batting in India requires skill, character and patience - the three qualities Vaughan demonstrated so superbly when he made a match-saving hundred on a turning pitch against Muttiah Muralitharan at his peak in Kandy a few years ago. Who else of the current side can play an innings like that in the heat and humidity they're likely to encounter in Ahmedabad and Mumbai? It's a bit of a worry.
Reports of Michael Vaughan's cricketing death, however, may be exaggerated. If anybody can return from this humiliation it is Vaughan. He spent 18 months stubbornly overcoming a knee injury which came within the width of a cartilage of terminating his career, writes Stephen Brenkley in the Independent.
I don't have any problems with England's squad, but I do like to see consistency of selection, writes Nasser Hussain in his Sky Sports column.
Peter Moores has known Prior and Ambrose for a long time now since their Sussex days and it's just time to work out which one is the better one - and stick with him. For me I would have gone with Prior and I would have gone with James Foster - if they don't believe Ambrose is the right choice - and I am not one just to stick with Ambrose just because he played this summer. I think Foster and Prior are the best two but the selectors have seen it differently. All I would call for is some consistency.
Dullness and consistency of thought are good attributes for selectors since stability is a key foundation stone of any successful team, writes Michael Atherton in the Times. But with the omission of James Foster comes the troubling feeling that the selectors have failed to recognise performances that, over the past couple of years, have rarely fallen below outstanding.
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo