GIVE ME TOTAL CONTROL
Ex-skipper Vaughan wants to mastermind England revolution
MICHAEL VAUGHAN will become the most powerful man in domestic cricket if he succeeds Paul Downton at the helm of the England team.
The captain of the 2005 Ashes-winning English side is the hot favourite for the new role of director of cricket and could even be named in the coming days. Yet Vaughan (left) will want unprecedented responsibility over coaching and selection and wants to become the first England ‘supremo’ since Ray Illingworth. Andrew Strauss and Alec Stewart complete a threeman ECB shortlist, but the job looks destined to be Vaughan’s if he can reach agreement over his powers and salary. His appointment would offer a clear path back into the England team for Kevin Pietersen, provided he scores runs in the County Championship with Surrey.
And Pietersen yesterday told social media website Breathe-Sport: ‘ He (Vaughan) is close enough to the game to make changes which need to happen for the good of English cricket.
‘The way he captained shows he’ll change the brand of cricket currently being played, which we need.’
Michael VaUGhaN will become the most powerful man in english cricket if he is confirmed as Paul Downton’s successor at the helm of the national team.
it emerged yesterday that the former england captain has already held talks with new ecB chief executive Tom harrison and is in pole position to become the new director of cricket ahead of andrew Strauss and alec Stewart.
Yet Vaughan will demand almost unprecedented responsibility if he is to head up the revolution that harrison and chairman-elect colin Graves have begun with Wednesday’s sacking of Downton as managing director.
clearly, if the ecB are going to land the man who appears to be their first choice then they will have to make him a supremo with powers not seen since Ray illingworth’s controversial reign in the early 1990s.
The exact terms of the new position were discussed at yesterday’s meeting of the ecB management board but if the director is to be Vaughan then he will command overall responsibility for coaching and selection.
Vaughan is one of the busiest men in cricket, earning close to £1million a year through his various media roles with the BBc, Sky, channel 5 and the Daily Telegraph and his involvement with sponsors and the iSM management group.
if he is to give up all of that — and it would be a clear conflict of interests if he continues his involvement in an agency that represents Stuart Broad, Joe Root and Jos Buttler — then he will want a massive salary and ultimate control of the team. On the day that both Strauss and Stewart threw their hats into the ring for the new job, one source told Sportsmail that Vaughan’s appointment was already a done deal and that he could even be unveiled before Monday’s first Test in the West indies.
Ultimately the decision will be taken by harrison and particularly Graves, who is close to Vaughan and is clearly keen to implement huge and rapid change in the national team as he did at Yorkshire.
The implications of the return to the england set-up of the 2005 ashes-winning captain would be significant for the leading figures in the domestic game.
if Vaughan becomes supremo then there may not even be the need for a head coach and, if the position does remain, it is impossible to envisage Peter Moores surviving even if england win their Test series against West indies.
Vaughan has been a constant critic of the coach in his second coming, saying he would be better off working with young players. There is no doubt that Graves — and Vaughan — would love Yorkshire coach Jason Gillespie to succeed Moores, but convincing the australian to throw in his lot with england
will be challenging. Gillespie is happy at Headingley and with his Big Bash role with Adelaide.
Vaughan, who has been an outspoken pundit, would have to build some bridges were he to take the role. Alastair Cook has often been a target of Vaughan’s sometimes inconsistent criticisms and would be on borrowed time as England captain under him unless he scores big runs and wins lots of Test matches quickly.
Also, Vaughan would have to provide an explanation to Jonathan Trott for his strongly- worded column on his departure from the last Ashes tour with what was eventually diagnosed as ‘situational anxiety.’ Vaughan said he felt ‘conned’ by Trott, who he accused of ‘doing a runner’ from Australia. One man who would greet Vaughan’s succession more warmly than most would undoubtedly be Kevin Pietersen, who would be handed a clear route back into the England team by the appointment of the captain he got on best with.
If Pietersen scores heavily for Surrey and Vaughan is at the helm of the England team then a comeback that appeared impossible just a few months ago after the publication of his bitter autobiography really would be on.
There is no doubt that if the job description had remained the same to that of Downton’s then Strauss, who said yesterday that he would be interested in the job, would be the outstanding candidate.
Strauss is widely respected by the England team and management but would be far more comfortable in a suit with distance between him and the players rather than in a tracksuit at the heart of the dressing room.
The apparent moving of the goalposts, with the business side of Downton’s role now disappearing, would seem to favour Vaughan over Strauss. The third man on the shortlist, Stewart, remains the outsider of the trio.
These are clearly seismic times for English cricket with Graves and Harrison apparently dismantling everything created by ex-chairman Giles Clarke, who was yesterday confirmed in a new role as ECB president.
The bottom line is, with national selector James Whitaker in danger of becoming the next to follow Downton out of the door, the whole senior structure of the England team could change before this year’s Ashes.
If the dominoes keep crashing down, Vaughan could be at the helm of an England team this summer with Gillespie as his coach, Joe Root as captain and Pietersen back in the team.
And that, following 15 months of turmoil since the England team unravelled so dramatically by losing the Ashes 5- 0, would be truly remarkable.