Time for Michael Vaughan to earn his corn

[King]

England's captain has never lost a Test series on home soil - he will need all of his optimism and flair, as well as a bit more luck, if he is to keep his record intact by the end of this series, writes Mike Atherton. More... Time for Michael Vaughan to earn his corn By Mike Atherton, Sunday Telegraph Last Updated: 11:01pm BST 28/07/2007 Have your say Read comments In pics: India take upper hand | Trent Bridge scorecard Video: The Analyst at the Test It was the kind of day that captains - at least the good ones - look forward to. For most of the summer England have been in such firm control against, firstly, the hapless West Indians and then a below-par India team at Lord's, that the cricket has lacked a certain edge. Proud record: Michael Vaughan is yet to lose a Test series at home Not much, then, for the captain to really worry about - no gut-churning mornings (as Michael Vaughan admitted to during the Ashes series of 2005) contemplating what might or might not happen. Yesterday, though, England found themselves under pressure for the first time, and no doubt Vaughan awoke with the feeling that here was the kind of a day where a captain could really make a difference. Vaughan came in for some criticism after Lord's, unfairly in my view, because of England's over rate. But I thought he was superb there, leading with real authority, a captain at the peak of his powers. Low-scoring games, though, are when a captain really earns his corn, the likes of Ray Illingworth, Ian Chappell and Mike Brearley were admired for their calmness and toughness under pressure in tight situations. To my mind, Vaughan occupies high rank among England captains, among the best three or four that this country has produced. Mainly this is because of his outlook, which is always positive despite the situation. He has created a happy ship in which the crew feel at ease and in which they are encouraged to express themselves. Yesterday, as usual, he stood at mid-on under a floppy hat, while the rest of his team wore dark blue caps; his choice of headgear was not so much reflective of the weather, which remained chilly, but of his disposition perhaps. He is an optimist and optimists make the best captains. As it happens, I don't think he got things quite right in the 16 overs prior to lunch. Given the amount of lavish movement in the air, and a fair bit of inconsistent bounce off the pitch, it was a time to keep things simple. But Vaughan was apt to place fielders in strange positions - show-pony positions, you might say - as if he was captaining for show rather than out of common sense. In the conditions catches were more likely to go in the regulation positions - slip, short-leg, gully - than short extra cover, short mid-wicket, and deep backward square-leg. The message from captain to bowlers should have been: don't experiment, pitch the ball up, keep things simple and the rewards will come. With his field settings, Vaughan sent out rather confusing messages. He is often at his best on flat pitches, where his constant fiddling and manoeuvring of the field works to his advantage. Rightly, he doesn't like to sit back and let things drift but in bowler-friendly conditions it pays not to over-complicate things. Accordingly, it was strange to see Ryan Sidebottom bowling without a short-leg to Wasim Jaffer at the start. Vaughan's thinking was clouded by Jaffer's second-innings dismissal at Lord's when he clipped in the air to short mid-wicket. Planning is fine, but it can sometimes obscure the obvious. Sidebottom duly found Jaffer's inside edge in the first over, and Alastair Cook at short mid-wicket could only look on with a pained expression on his face as the ball ballooned skywards to where short-leg might have been. India's openers appeared set after lunch, there was less movement in the air and off the pitch, and accordingly Vaughan's proactive nature was more understandable. Certainly, it seemed fair enough to turn to Paul Collingwood in the conditions for a few overs instead of Monty Panesar, with Collingwood asked to do a similar job to the one Rahul Dravid asked of Sourav Ganguly. The move nearly worked with James Anderson shelling a tough chance at short extra cover, and Dinesh Karthik scooping just short of mid-on the very next ball. According to Richie Benaud, captaincy is 90 per cent luck and 10 per cent skill (but don't try it without the 10 per cent), and Vaughan's luck deserted him in the post-lunch session. As well as Anderson, Ian Bell also put down a difficult chance at gully. Panesar, when he came on, could have had two lbws, had umpire Ian Howell's nature been more generous to the bowler. Vaughan's tactics throughout the day reflected that, for most of his captaincy career, he has had to work hard to create situations in batsman-friendly conditions. Yesterday needed a bit more old-fashioned orthodoxy. When the breakthrough finally came, it did so in orthodox fashion: Jaffer caught behind off the kind of good-length delivery Vaughan should have been encouraging with his field settings all day. Vaughan is, of course, statistically pre-eminent among England captains, having won more games than any other. Nor has he ever tasted defeat in a Test series on home soil. He will need all of his optimism and flair, as well as a bit more luck and help from his team, if he is to keep that record intact by the end of this series.

[King]

To be fair unconventional fielding position set by Vaughan did get Rahul Dravid out. I do believe the bowlers bowled far too short often and a little wide too. The batters had to play less number of balls. Jaffer, Rahul and Tendulkar let go a lot of balls. Indian bowlers made the England batters play more balls and that gave a chance for India to claim few crucial wickets early on.

[The Outsider]

Ravi, I think what Atherton is saying is that initially he should have stayed with a conventional approach, he himself says that in the afternoon there was room for innovation.

[King Tendulkar]

Vaughan having a shocker. Heat is on and his team have done jack. Being out captained by Dravid. Vaughan keeps trying novel field positions which have no chance of actually getting a catch. And then with his poor over rate in last test when they needed it higher on last day have exposed his captaincy