Michael Vaughan: Broad lifeline means I'm backing England

England Cricket / Michael Vaughan / 30 July 2011 / Leave a Comment

Broad celebrates his hat-trick

"Strauss might have thought England were out of it as Yuvraj and Dravid looked set to pile on the runs. However, after Broad's superb hat-trick, the hosts will be feeling buoyant."

Stuart Broad was the star on day two once again - this time with the ball - and ex-England skipper Michael Vaughan is convinced that England can now go on and triumph...

At the end of a great day at Trent Bridge, England's will be the happier dressing room. The Betfair markets may disagree but I'm sticking with the home team to win the second Test.

They've been given a lifeline by Stuart Broad. On day one, he turned England's fortunes around with a superb innings of 64 and, on day two, he changed the course of the game again with Test best bowling figures of 6 for 46. In the space of a fortnight, he's turned his own form around too and now looks far more at ease with himself.

You can back England at [2.78] to win the match, with India [1.87] and an unlikely draw at [9.0]. India may have scored the bigger first innings total and England would have liked to have ended the day with all wickets intact but they are playing with momentum and conviction. They could win the match on day three but a fourth day is more likely and I still see them winning in Monday's final session at [3.55].

Two hours before the close of play, I feared for England and Andrew Strauss might have thought his team were out of it as Yuvraj Singh and Rahul Dravid looked set to pile on the runs. However, after Broad's superb hat-trick, England will be feeling buoyant.

It's now up to the batsman to make the most of the platform that Broad has give them. Jonathan Trott's injury is a big blow - he's going to be sore and will probably not be able to do much more than come in and block - but England must bat 90 overs. If they can do that they will win this match. They should look to make around 270 on Sunday and then let the attack go all out at India on Monday.

So who will get the runs? Ian Bell may relish his chance to perform at number three and Strauss could do with a captain's innings. However, I have a feeling that someone further down the order could come in and succeed with a bold, aggressive innings, similar to the way Broad did on day one. I won't back the Nottinghamshire man though; instead, I'll have a bet on Any Other Batsman at [3.9] because I can see Matt Prior coming in and smashing it.

After that it will be down to England's bowlers. Dravid and Yuvraj showed their class on Saturday but the Indian tail is woefully long, as Broad demonstrated. Mahendra Dhoni is out of sorts with the bat and the gloves and the tourists are lacking leadership. The pitch is a bit of a gremlin too and the bounce is working in England's favour. Put simply, India don't like it and I can't see things improving for them. Game on, England.

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Another thrilling day's cricket draws to a close with India on top, but only just. Andrew Hughes has the details of Saturday's play and looks ahead to tomorrow.

It was hard to take your eye off the action on a dramatic opening day to this Second Test. Andrew Hughes brings us up to date with Friday's events and looks ahead to Saturday's action.

The momentum is with England after Monday evening's events and they can go 2-0 when we head to Nottingham, where conditions will assist the bowlers and mean the match is unlikely to go the distance....

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Michael Vaughan: Broad has the qualities to be skipper

Twenty20 / Michael Vaughan / 23 June 2011 / Leave a Comment

Stuart Broad gets a crucial LBW decison against South Africa at the last ODI World Cup

"They see him (Broad) as a natural leader of men and think he’s tactically astute. In T20 you need to think on your feet and always be one step ahead of the game. You need to make big decisions that somehow change the course of the match and Stuart looks like a man who isn’t afraid to make them and then live by the consequences."

The appointment of Stuart Broad as England's T20 captain is met with Michael Vaughan's approval. But this is a tough job and he needs to start getting results right away.

I must say, I'm a little surprised by all this never-ending business surrounding the different England captaincies.

I can see the rationale behind naming Andrew Strauss (Test), Alastair Cook (ODI) and Stuart Broad (T20) as the three captains across the different formats. Strauss has called time on his limited-overs career but remains as Test captain whilst Alastair Cook has been named ODI captain to give him some experience of international leadership, presumably so he can take over from Strauss when he retires from the Test game. Cook himself isn't part of England's T20 set-up so the management has decided to see how Broad fares with a view to possibly take over in one of the two longer formats in the future.

What I don't understand is the decision to name vice-captains on top of that. Eoin Morgan has been announced as Broad's deputy in the T20 format and we await the announcement of Cook's stand-in just before the ODI Series starts. It all seems chaotic. When I was skipper, there was no need to formally tell the Media and everyone else that Marcus Trescothick was my deputy. He just was. If I was out injured, he'd step in and that was that. No need to put it in stone as to what the hierarchy was.

I can see what the England Selectors like about Stuart Broad, though. They see him as a natural leader of men and think he's tactically astute. In T20 you need to think on your feet and always be one step ahead of the game. You need to make big decisions that somehow change the course of the match and Stuart looks like a man who isn't afraid to make them and then live by the consequences.

If there's one T20 captain you should be seeing as an inspiration it's MS Dhoni. He has two IPL titles and a T20 World Cup to his credit, not to mention his recent success in the 50-over World Cup. He sometimes does slightly odd things like opening with a part-time off-spinner or promoting a lower-middle order batsman up the order and of course these gambles don't always come off. But he gets most decisions right and that goes a long way to explaining why he's had so much success in the role.

Of course, it's not fair to compare Broad to someone of Dhoni's experience. He's done the job with India for an eternity and he's played just about every match over the course of four IPL campaigns. Despite being a World Cup winner with England, Broad hasn't actually played that much of the shortest format.

But the proof is in the pudding, as they say. If over the next couple of years England get good results, these debates about who was appointed as captain or vice-captain won't come up. But if the World Champions go on a poor run, they will inevitably surface and whether he likes it or not, Broad will be held accountable.

They're the World Champions but an inexperienced captain and the return of a fresh Lasith Malinga to the fore makes Sri Lanka the bet in this match, says Michael Vaughan....

Despite leading the County Championship Durham's Will Smith welcomes the thrill and danger of the T20, precisely because of those characteristics! Follow Will on Twitter here...

The first game was an Adelaide thriller that went down to the last ball. Next up is the rematch at the MCG. Andrew Hughes previews the Second Twenty20 International.

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