Can Michael Vaughan regain a place in the England Test team?
Friday, October 17, 2008 : England, Tests
An understandable initial reaction to this question is 'No Chance'. But after further examination, I'm not so sure. Vaughan has given himself a year to nudge the selectors into giving him another opportunity as an England batsman. During that time England are due to play 13 Test matches starting this November with 2 in India, followed by 4 in the West Indies, and 2 early season matches against Sri Lanka at home before the 2009 Ashes series with 5 Tests against Australia. During that time one or more of the England top 5/6 will either be injured or lose enough form to put their place in doubt.
At this point Strauss and Collingwood are under the most pressure, if they don't score many runs in India and/or the West Indies. Bell and Cook would also be under pressure, but to a lesser extent. KP, and Fred, who will bat at 6/7 with Prior back in the side, are obviously nailed on certs to play. Who are the contenders to replace any of them. Owais Shah is the man in pole position having been selected as part of the full Test squad for the India Tests. Ravi Bopara and Rob Key as the next taxis of the rank, but none of these players have so far performed well enough at Test level, whereas Michael Vaughan has a proven record when not playing as Captain.
He needs to score some runs somewhere. He says he will be with the England Performance Programme (EPP) in India to play two matches from mid-November 2009. I'm sure Rob Key as an opening batsman, himself fighting for another chance in the Test team, will be overjoyed to know that MPV will be taking one of the openers places in the EPP games. Likewise, Joe Denly and Stephen Moore.
It is unlikely he will be lucky enough to get a chance in India but can you see MPV in the side for 1st Test against the Windies at Jamaica on the 4th February next year?
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