Michael Vaughan

It was a long wait for England after winning the 1986-87 Ashes under Mike Gatting. 2005 was the year when the Ashes flew back to England and Michael Vaughan was the man who made it possible.

Vaughan was a master in all sense. His batting closely resembled to that of Mike Atherton. He walked in to face his first ball in Test cricket with his side reeling at 2/4 on a juicy Johannesburg pitch in 1999-00. He did not score too many that day, but the first impressions were to create a lasting memory in people's minds. His first Test century duly arrived at Old Trafford in 2001 against Pakistan.

2002 was the year where in Vaughan truly excelled. He scored 900 runs in the home test series against Sri Lanka and India and followed it up with 633 runs on the Ashes tour of Australia. This run of form made Vaughan the number one batsman in the world according to the ICC rankings, the first Englishman to achieve this since Graham Gooch. His ODI numbers did not do justice to his talent though as he struggled in the shorter format of the game.

Despite his ODI struggles, Vaughan was made the ODI captain for the 2003 home season and inherited the Test captaincy weeks later after Nasser Hussain resigned unexpectedly. It was a torrid examination of his skills, but Vaughan showed that he had an astute brain as he guided England to a 2-2 draw against South Africa. Things slipped a bit in Sri Lanka as England lost 0-1, but Vaughan helped England beat the West Indies in their own den for the first time in three decades. The summer of 2004 was one of the best for Vaughan and the English team as they swept aside New Zealand and West Indies to complete a 7-0 whitewash for the season.

This was followed by a satisfying 2-1 series win in South Africa before completing a 2-1 result in a mesmerizing 2005 Ashes series. Injury though cut short his participation on the sub-continental tours of Pakistan and India and wrecked his 2006 season. It also forced him to miss out on the chance to lead England in defence of the Ashes. Flintoff was named the captain and England were humiliated 5-0. He played little role in the CB series thereafter and led England in another poor 2007 WC campaign.

Vaughan seemed to be back when he led England to a 2-0 home series victory against West Indies. His own form seemed to be on the upswing when he cracked 103 at his beloved Leeds. Vaughan surpassed Peter May as the man who had led England to most Test victories, with 21 wins. It was followed by a 0-1 loss against Rahul Dravid led India. After another loss, the following year against South Africa at Edgbaston, Vaughan resigned from captaincy.

With his form dwindling, Vaughan announced his retirement from Test cricket as the 2009 Ashes drew closer. Vaughan was chosen as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 2003 and became the first cricketer ever to be featured on the cover of the 140th edition of Wisden (in the same year) after his excellent batting in 2002. In December 2005, the England cricket team was awarded the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Team Award. On 31 December 2005, the entire Ashes-winning England cricket team was awarded the Queen's New Years' Honours, with Vaughan, team coach Duncan Fletcher and manager Phil Neale being honoured with OBEs and the rest of the side being awarded MBEs. Vaughan was named in the Test Team of the Year at the 2007 ICC Awards.

Some of his criticisms and tweets regarding the Indian team during their ill-fated tour of England in 2011 received world wide lambasting from the Indian fans.

Vaughan then became a regular commentator with Sky Sports and also travels across the globe for some major events.

By Pradeep Krishnamurthy