Blighted Blighty

A change of captain, the same scenario. Michael Vaughan had scored enough runs in the past year to top the Test batting rankings and find himself on the famed yellow cover of Wisden Almanac 2003. Barely a day into the job, though, Vaughan had to oversee another woeful batting performance by England, just as had Nasser Hussain at Edgbaston in the first Test of the series.

Vaughan, so often in control in the NatWest Series limited overs internationals where England swamped South Africa in the final, discovered how tough it can be in such a position.

England has travelled from being a team of champions — jingoistic hype predicted that the side had a ‘touch of Australia about it’ — to a bunch of chumps. Not at all a title your average Sunday afternoon spectator would be happy to understand, yet the feeling that England would crush South Africa suddenly displayed the uncertainty surrounding the game. It has all been a matter of how a side can display strength of character: all a question of a good opening day.

In this sense it was a matter of placing England under pressure and, as such, making sure that Vaughan knew what he was up against so early in his captaincy. Or, as South Africa’s captain Graeme Smith considered when asked the question, ‘‘the importance of setting the tone.’’ As with the taxi driver, it’s very much a question of direction and making the most of challenging England’s new order. After all, South Africa have quite a record of outplaying England at headquarters. Two big wins in 1994 and 1998 were not only favourable results, but showed England in an unflattering light.

Smith set the tone for South Africa in the first Test of the series and is now looking to do it again. He exudes that type of confidence which suggests that Hussain was quite happy to let someone else face the music in a series which, it was suggested, England would win possibly 3-0. It now appears as though Hussain lost the stomach for the fight at Edgbaston.

The dual captaincy role that England had adopted earlier this year suddenly evaporated. Vaughan had assumed the role as Test and LOI captains. It is a more ideal partnership, yet there is also a question of why England’s selectors and Hussain persisted with this charade. Hussain was himself uncertain of what he should do and was criticised for holding up England’s progress of building a better team for the future.

This has all been based on the new ball bowling attack and its dependence on Darren Gough’s fitness. In two Tests, the bowling has looked anything but convincing and this is where England find themselves in a situation where the selectors need to find a few answers to a long-term future with a captain who has built a reputation on his batting rather than leadership qualities.

Does it not perhaps suggest that England have not only lost the plot, but the system is in serious decline? It is a serious cause for alarm as the world game needs an England which knows how to play the game as well as challenge the opposition. What we have, though, a different captain but the same result. In England the game is not moving forward and perhaps it is time for a major revolution to shake it up before it is too late.