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In spite of not having the best of starts of his test career, Mark Stoneman has got the backing of Michael Vaughan who is of the opinion that the flamboyant opening batsman should be sent Down Under this winter for Ashes series.

Vaughan says that Paul Collingwood who is associated with the same county which Stoneman used to play for till the previous season has told him some great things about the 30-year old Southpaw and he has no doubt over the judgement of Collingwood.

As per Vaughan, having watched Stoneman for a couple of series, one thing that he can say is that the quality is present in abundance and there is no reason why he can’t be a good test match batsman.

Yes there is a little bit of technical adjustment that he needs to make keeping the Australian conditions in mind. He generally looks to play with a vertical bat, but that’s not something which will necessarily fetch him great results in Australia because the surfaces there demand the batsmen to use a horizontal bat on most occasions. If he presents a vertical bat as often as he does, he will present opportunities for the Australian slip cordon.

Talking about the other English opener Alistair Cook who is a mainstay in the squad unlike Stoneman and is a certainty to travel to the land of the Kangaroos later in the year, Vaughan reckons that the team management wouldn’t have too many concerns about Cook because he has shown some very satisfactory signs in terms of his footwork in the recently finished home season. Yes he has had some blemishes in the first slip position, but it’s just a matter of confidence and once he regains that, he will start grabbing the chances safely again.

Former England Captain Michael Vaughan has asked English cricket governing board to put the game back on terrestrial television as it is struggling to catch up with Rugby.

To access English cricket fans have to go through a Sky Sports subscription. Vaughan is preaching that after twelve years of doing that, the game is suffering as the young English public are losing interest.

The 2005 Ashes winner says he gets why the ECB made the move then but adds that the best thing now is to go terrestrial.

“I just get really jealous on a Six Nations weekend and I hear that eight million people are watching a rugby match and cricket isn’t getting that kind of audience. I guess in time we may get that and I think the people in charge are trying to get the right visibility for the game, but it is a different era. I think they’re playing a bit of catch up,” he said.

The former skipper said the management could have done more to improve the visibility after accepting a big offer on the table twelve years ago. He asked them to make judicious use of the fresh start to boost the game’s audience.

County chair and chief executives are poised to meet in London to vote for the continuation of the T20 Blast – something that offers them £1.3 million annually. The plan is to replicate the Big Bash in Australia during the summer where eight franchises would compete. In addition, the ECB plans to start new programmes that would catch the populace young.

He offered to give a real life example of how low the sport’s popularity has sunk. He said Joe Root would walk down the street and not many would know him, reflecting the level of visibility the ECB have to manage.

England opener Alex Hales hit 110 from 107 balls and he was emotional after the achievement against West Indies.

It was the third one-day international for the player in half a year. He missed the Bangladesh tour due to security concerns. He was also frustrated by the fracture of his hands early this year.

“The last six months have been frustrating, so to score a hundred in my first game back is a great feeling,” the excited 28-year old said. Hales said when he opted out of the Bangladesh trip, he knew he was offering others his spot in the team. He said the injury in India was bad timing so he is most pleased to return to the team.

Hales said it was his most important century for England, and that he hoped he repaid the faith in him after all the recent happenings. England scored 328 from 50 overs courtesy of Hales combination with skipper Joe Root.

Man of the series Chris Woakesand Liam Plunkett did real damage to West Indies – who knew the game ended after they fell 13-3 despite Jonathan Carter stressing the visitors.

England have two ODI matches against Ireland before they begin the Champions Trophy tournament at The Oval against Bangladesh.

Captain Eoin Morgan praised Root and Hales for their partnership. He was happy that Hales was able to take some time off with the injury and come back “hungry and determined.” He rated Hales ahead of Sam Billlings, adding that it would be “hard” to select the players for the Champions Trophy.

Michael Vaughan – former England’s cricket team captain –
had no less than praises for Virat Kohli following his recent career-best Test score and the game that saw the star break many records in the process.

He also spoke on the approach of the England’s team and the atmosphere around them as well.

Kohli, who had taken over from MS Dhoni as the Test captain of India’s cricket team, had come on early, on day three, where he went on to script one of his finest Test innings at the moment, scoring 235 thus pushing India in line to overhaul England’s tally of 400.

Not just that alone, the Indian team went on to take a massive 231-run lead over their opponents, before adding 241 runs for the eight wicket as Jayant Yadav pushed on to score hos maiden Test century.

Speaking at the BBC Test Match Special, Vaughan had said,
“ViratKohli is doing wonders for Test-match cricket. MS Dhoni didn’t take it too seriously,”

“It’s the first time I’ve been to India and seen a crowd like this for a long time.”

And speaking about the tactics adopted by the England team in the second innings, where they took the decision to attack the bowlers, despite the loss of three key wickets on day two just before tea, Vaughan was of the notion that the team did quite the right thing.

“It’s been so entertaining. It’s full-scale attack from England – reverse sweeps, lap slogs, dancing down the pitch. Full credit to them – they’ve had a real good go in the second innings. They’ve done the right thing, putting a few men on the boundary by playing shots.” He said.

He also believes England should be given a lot of credit for the way they played, considering the quality of team they were up against.

Michael Vaughan has come up with an interesting idea of making the longest form of the game a little more favoured and also, a little more worthwhile to watch.

According to Vaughan, to have weak sides, who are on the 6th or the 7th position in the test match rakings, playing against the top sides doesn’t make too much of sense because there is nothing to look forward to in those cases. The outcome can be easily predicted even before a single ball is bowled.

So, the International Cricket Council should scrap the current system and there should be a new system in which the teams are divided into separate divisions with the top four sides being in the first division, the ones from no. 5 to no. 8 in Division two and the next four in Division three. And, then based on how the teams do in their own divisions, they should be promoted or demoted.

Vaughan was upset to see the test match season in England beginning with a match which did not go even into the 4th day with the visiting team Sri Lanka losing it by an innings.

England had not even had a score of three hundred in their first innings, still they managed to get Sri Lanka following on by bowling them out on 91and then, they got them out on a low enough total second time as well to have an innings win.

Vaughan said that the start of the Australian summer last year, when the West Indians had visited there, was lustreless too because the two sides were not matched at all and the same is the case of Sri Lanka and England as the former being nowhere near the latter in the conditions of the UK.

England is one team whose players don’t feature frequently in the Indian Premier League.

The first choice players of almost every other international team have got the Indian Premier League contracts and they spend eight to ten weeks in India every year.

You see the England team; on the other hand, except Eoin Morgan and now you can add Jos Buttler to that too who has been bought by Mumbai Indian recently, nobody else has got the contract in the biggest Twenty 20 League in the world.

And, most of the players in the current England Twenty 20 team, they have not visited India for the international games either so far.

The last time England had come to India was in 2012-13 and at that time, their set up was a lot different. Most of these players who are parts of the current set up were not playing at that time.

It’s only in the last twelve to eighteen months that these youngsters have come to the scene. So, in terms of the experience of playing on dusty and sluggish wickets, England is not quite there, but, the skipper Eoin Morgan believes that the lack of experience would not hinder his team’s run in the World Twenty 20 Championship.

According to Morgan, the English boys might not have visited India, but, they have had the tours of the other subcontinent nations and they have handled the conditions alright at those places.

Because of being in top 8 in the international Twenty 20 rankings, England has qualified for the Super 10 already and they are in Group 1.

The teams completing the rest of the Group 1 are West Indies, South Africa, Sri Lanka and a minnow which would make its way in later.

England might have won the Ashes, but, Michael Vaughan is not totally convinced with the mentality which they batted with in the series.

Vaughan’s advice to the young English batsmen is that when they step onto the pitch, they should keep in mind that they have to avoid playing those sorts of shots in which the risk of getting out is quite high. Once they get set, then, it’s a different ballgame. They can go for their flamboyant shots. But, at the start, a little bit of caution is essential.

Post the World Cup 2015 which saw the English Cricket embarrassing itself in front of the whole world by losing to Bangladesh; the English selectors have been looking to back the genuinely aggressive players, the likes of Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow etc.

In the view of Vaughan, there is no harm in having aggressive players in the ranks. It’s actually good. It’s just that those guys need to change their mentality slightly and be prepared to show more application. It should not matter for them if their strike rate is low for some time as they have the ability to make it up later on.

But, when they start, they should try and play percentage Cricket.

Vaughan is also concerned about the fact that whenever England has to bowl on a placid pitch, they seem to give up very early.

In the Ashes, there were a couple of pitches which were flat and the Kangaroos took the English attack to the cleaners on them.

Vaughan believes that when the pitch is not providing that much of help to the bowlers, it’s important that they bring the variations into play. Also, on those sorts of pitches, a little more intensity is needed than usual.

Michael Vaughan played a brisk innings opening the batting with Matthew Hayden for the Warne’s Warriors in the second match of the Cricket All Stars series presently taking place in America.

By virtue of the good start given by him, his team managed to put a huge score on the board which eventually turned out to be too much for the opposition to chase.

Vaughan would be slightly disappointed though that he couldn’t continue for as long as he should have. The way he was timing the ball, on a flat surface, he would have liked himself to at least score a half century, but, he was done by his countryman Graeme Swann who trapped him in front of the middle stump as he tried to tuck a quicker delivery towards square leg.

Although, Vaughan played quite a few shots during that knock of his, but, a couple of them stood out in particular, a lofted extra cover drive which sailed into the stands and a pull in front of square which went to the boundary line at the rate of knots.

While, he was out there, Vaughan, it never seemed as if he’s somebody who retired from the game long ago.
Everything was coming off the middle of the bat.

Vaughan was not picked in the XI in the first game by his captain Shane Warne who had opted to go for an extra fast bowler instead believing that the pitch would help the quickies a fraction there in New York.

But, Vaughan got his opportunity in Houston and he did well enough to make sure he would retain his opening slot in the last game of the series which will be played in Los Angeles.

The Warriors have already taken an unbeatable lead of 2-0. So, the third game would be a dead rubber from the series’ point of view, but, with all these legends playing, there can never be a dead rubber for the spectators.

Michael Vaughan reckons Adil Rashid should be included in the playing XI by the England team management for the first test versus Australia starting from tomorrow.

It’s believed England might opt to go with Moeen Ali and not Rashid as the former has got some experience at the test level.

But, according to Vaughan, the confidence that Rashid has shown in the recent times, it little matters that he is an uncapped player. The ball is coming out wonderfully off his hands and once the pitch gets slightly on the weary side, he can become a vital player for England.

Vaughan, however, warned that it would not be that easy for Rashid to make an impact on the top Kangaroo players especially on the first two days, but, he can help wiping out the tail cheaply.

There have been so many occasions in the last couple of years when the tail has frustrated England and the reason behind it is that the Three Lions don’t have a genuine quick or a spinner with wrong ones.

But, Rashid can do the job with his googleys.
Speaking in a talk show, Vaughan said, “If I was Alastair Cook, my choice would have been Rashid. It’s not that I have anything against Moeen. He is a wonderful player, but, at the moment, confidence wise, he is not quite up there and Ashes throws a huge challenge to you. If you are not confident about your abilities, it’s going to be really tough.”

“As far as Rashid is concerned, if he plays, the captain will have to ensure he gives him the right kind of field placements when the pitch is not doing anything significantly in his favour. He can be a real attacking option in the second innings.”

“However, one thing is for sure whichever spinner plays, whether it’s Moeen or Rashid, he will have to cope with serious assault at the hands of the Aussies. They will be looking to smash ‘em.”

Michael Vaughan reckons the England team management should not persist with Jonathan Trott at the top of the order.

Interestingly, Vaughan had voiced his opinion in favour of Trott being given the opportunity at the opening slot, but, now he feels that the Warwickshire batsman is not tailor made for the job.

Trott has opened in the test series versus West Indies so far without having much success.

He has had a half century to his name, but, according to Vaughan, Trott is not comfortable at that position. The way he shuffles around in the crease, it’s not ideal for somebody who is opening the batting.

However, Vaughan is very happy with the way captain Alastair Cook has batted against the Caribbean attack so far.

The thing which impressed Vaughan is Cook’s foot movement, the forward press that he is having.

Everybody knows when Cook has that slight forward press, it’s a sign that he is in good form and it’s so important for England that the captain remains in good form leading to the Ashes.

The middle order has also fired for England so far in West Indies.

England has actually been doing alright in test Cricket if you consider the last 10-12 months.

Last three test matches against India, they won in a row and now, an away win against West Indies.

You can always say that India and West Indies are not as strong as Australia would prove to be with their bowling attack, still, to win 4 out of 5 matches, recovering from a 0-5 humiliation, it’s remarkable.

And, it has all happened because Cook has contributed. His contribution in the top order is so vital for the Three Lions.

Cook is still looking for that century though which would end his long drought, but, it seems to be just around the corner.