How Michael Vaughan Became Captain

His version of the events:

“Do you fancy being England captain?” Nasser asked.
“Absolutely!” I replied.

Shit, I'm surprised they didn't stop to have a cup of tea and a chat about the Queen. In any case, as Michael writes for the Times, being captain for England was amazing, every darn minute of that cursed job. But really, captaining isn't about what you do on or off the field as a player, but it's about the theatrical aspect of cricket. Vaughan was quite the expert at the time he stepped down from captaincy. In fact, he'd go so far as to say one of his greatest achievements as English captain was masking his true feelings, like the true actor he is:

"The players in my last year as captain didn't know I was struggling - and that is one of the things I will always be proudest of."

I'll stop for a moment to say that it's hard not to feel a little sorry for the man. Never mind I don't know why I should feel sorry, but when someone cries, you instinctively feel sorry, even when a year later, all you have is a hazy memory of those tears and you cannot fathom why you are sympathising with this person.

Cricket wasn't just a game for Michael. No, it was an obsession. An all-consuming, dream-consuming, time-consuming... obsession.

"Even in my year out with a knee injury I was still thinking about how to make us a great team. Even when playing golf, after two or three holes I'd get back to strategies for beating Australia and what sort of cricket we had to play. Even when I was getting a little action with my wife, I thought about Ricky Ponting and how to bring that bastard down."

Okay, well, part of that isn't true. But the general gist of it is.

MPV was the most successful captain England ever had.

Shame about the 12.

"Just SHUT UP ABOUT THAT, OKAY?"