Michael Vaughan should have shown some Balls

[Tommy Smith]

Vaughan almost got the declaaration perfect.

Falling one wicket short.....but given we got up to 371, if he declared any earlier ad set us less than 400, he really could have been in danger of losing the test

Exactly. The declaration was pretty much perfect. You get Australia 7 down with 30 overs to go and you expect to win.

Nothing wrong with the declaration, just a failure to finsh Australia off and equally another great rearguard effort by Australia. Pontings best ever innings.

 

[fish eel]

Exactly. The declaration was pretty much perfect. You get Australia 7 down with 30 overs to go and you expect to win.

Nothing wrong with the declaration, just a failure to finsh Australia off and equally another great rearguard effort by Australia. Pontings best ever innings.

If he followed the advice of some of the cricket brains here, he'd be 2-1 down.

 

[Twizzle]

has this question now been answered

I think not...................

 

[waltzing Meninga]

If he followed the advice of some of the cricket brains here, he'd be 2-1 down.

Thats not correct. Had he given the Aussies more of a sniff of victory they would have played differently, and most likely would have got out. The poor declaration only gave Australia 1 option and that was to save the match.

Vaughan will never get a chance to go 2-1 up in an Ashes series for quite some time, but he has blown it by not showing enough faith in his bowlers and not using his cricket brain.

 

[dice]

I think Punter, despite his disgraceful captaincy this series would give an aggressive declaration.

No way. Not with Australia holding the Ashes.

If Ponting was in Vaughn's position he definitely would have though.

 

[waltzing Meninga]

England must be wondering how they squandered a perfect opportunity to take the upper hand in this series. I beleive it was mainly due to Michael Vaughn's poor captaincy. His bowlers did a fantastic job for him given the situation he put them in. I think these are the areas he let his side down.

1. Poor declaration - only really gave the Aussies a chance of a draw which played into their hands. I know people will say "but Australia would have won if he declared earlier". The fact is if he had given them a sniff it would have changed the batting mentallity and encouraged more stroke play. You don't win the ashes off the best side in the world by being conservative.

2. Taking the new ball so early - Simon Jones was swinging the old ball almost a metre in both directions and causing all sorts of problems for the batsmen. But as soon as the new ball bacame available he took it. This gave Jones no swing and warne and ponting were given releif from Jones hostility.

3. Poor feild placings - He was no where near attatcking enough. evidence when that ball went through second slip off warne. The slip cordin needed to be packed at all times last night. He was also placing men on the boundry for Giles every time Ponting hit a boundry. He had to show more faith in Giles. I also dont think he had a bat pad or silly mid off in long enough for the tail. This would have created doubt in their minds.

4. Putting himself on to bowl when new batsmen came to the crease - self explanatory.


I'm sure Vaughan will learn from this, however he may now have to wait 4 more years for the ashes.

 

[Azkatro]

Vaughan made the right decision IMO. Some of you have short memories. It's easy to forget how good our batsmen are when they hit a bit of form. Sheez' only one of them batted well and we got within fifty - imagine if someone managed to hang around with him. They would have romped it in even chasing 400 odd. If he set us 350 or less and they lost (which would have been likely), he would have been sacked as England captain.

 

[Southern Rooster]

He has not made many runs in the series but just having Adam Gilchrist in the side puts doubts in the other captains minds. If he batted for an hour we might have won. It's the fact he scares opposition captains cause they know what he can do. I thought Vaughan did the right thing. Maybe 20 runs to many but last night they weren't going to do much damage as it was too dark for the quicks.

The old ball Simon Jones was bowling with had actually split and would have last maybe another over before coming apart. The fact is we should not be bagging England or there skipper at present but praising them for coming back to dominate back to back tests after being hammered at Lords.

But at the same time giving full credit to our guys who have played there part in possibly the best two weeks of test cricket in the history of the sport.

 

[Iafeta]

I reckon Vaughan deserves an absolute rollicking for his slips fields placement.

Make no bones about it, the couple of chances that flew through the slips cordon and gave Hayden an extra half hour at the crease was the difference.

 

[Southern Rooster]

I reckon Vaughan deserves an absolute rollicking for his slips fields placement.

Make no bones about it, the couple of chances that flew through the slips cordon and gave Hayden an extra half hour at the crease was the difference.

That I will grant was poor captaincy. Especially the second time. One you can forgive but two is unforgivable.

 

[JoeysChiropractor]

I think this test just goes to show that Vaughan has more development to go as a leader. This test and the second test, Australia played poorly and England were well on top and had a chance to really bury Australia. The fact that Australia got as close as they did in the 2nd test, and survived the 3rd test, and also looked like they could win the match at times, just goes to show that England haven't been able to land the killer blow and finish off Australia.

Rarely to Australia let other teams back into matches. If Australia dominates the first day or two, the test is theirs, the other side can't get back in it. Full credit to Australia though to be able to claw their way back into the matches. But an on fire England isn't putting away an out of form Australian side, and I say out of form is pretty much across the board with only really Ponting (now), Warne, McGrath and to an extent Lee showing any sort of form this series.

 

[Tommy Smith]

I think this test just goes to show that Vaughan has more development to go as a leader. This test and the second test, Australia played poorly and England were well on top and had a chance to really bury Australia. The fact that Australia got as close as they did in the 2nd test, and survived the 3rd test, and also looked like they could win the match at times, just goes to show that England haven't been able to land the killer blow and finish off Australia.

Rarely to Australia let other teams back into matches. If Australia dominates the first day or two, the test is theirs, the other side can't get back in it. Full credit to Australia though to be able to claw their way back into the matches. But an on fire England isn't putting away an out of form Australian side, and I say out of form is pretty much across the board with only really Ponting (now), Warne, McGrath and to an extent Lee showing any sort of form this series.

Let's not forget the impact of the rain. Almost a days play lost.

England could have ended up setting Australia 500-550 with 1 1/2 days play to go which would have been all over red rover.

 

[waltzing Meninga]

Let's not forget the impact of the rain. Almost a days play lost.

England could have ended up setting Australia 500-550 with 1 1/2 days play to go which would have been all over red rover.

Granted, but he had to make the most of his sides dominant position despite the rain. Sure Austrlia would have had a chance of winning had he declared earlier, but thats how you win test cricket. This was his golden opportunity to take the series by the throat.

 

[UndertakerMike]

Let's not forget the impact of the rain. Almost a days play lost.

England could have ended up setting Australia 500-550 with 1 1/2 days play to go which would have been all over red rover.

If they showed more urgency batting in the second innings then they wouldn't have to trott out the old rain cost us a win excuse.

 

[JoeysChiropractor]

Yes, certainly can't blame the rain as the longest rain delay was during Australia's first innings. That said, England knew quite well how much time there was left in the game when they started their second innings.