This should be a big seller from one of England's most successful and intelligent captains. And we are looking forward to our resident bibliophile Steve Cowton's review.
Michael Vaughan 2009. Time to Declare - My Autobiography, to be published by Hodder & Stoughton on October 29 at £19.99.
--- he couldn't be honest enough to admit he was no longer capable of producing the goods on the pitch prior to the 2009 season.He was a great cricketer,mainly for England, and soured that by pretending he was just one good score from an England recall.
Hopefully the likes of Lyth will be able to recover from his selfishness.
Unkind you may say,realistic in reality.
You obviously didn't see Michael Vaughan batting on the second evening at New Road this year. Absolutely back to his best. If Adam Lyth is ever that good, we will have a wonderful cricketer.
On the other hand, Vaughan was dreadful the next morning. I think time and the injuries caught up with him. But I can't blame him for giving it a go this season. What was he supposed to do: lie down and die?
I suspect only Rudolph and Bairstow are absolute certs in the batting department next summer. Root, Sayers, Gale, Lyth, Ballance, McGrath et al. will have to battle for places and may occasionally get in each others' way. If we want a strong team, it is one of the things we have to accept.
"My belief is that the counties should play only ten or 12 four-day games, as 16 is just too many.
The basic aim has to be to allow players more time to work on their skills." (Michael Vaughan)
"Good young players need to be attached to counties, but academies cannot be a substitute for the great lessons of life and cricket that you learn playing in the leagues. Yorkshires academy play as a team in the Yorkshire Premier League, but it would be much better if the players were individually allowed to play for clubs. As a teenager I learnt so much by sitting in dressing rooms with hardened club cricketers, and not just about the game of cricket! You sit there with a 40-year-old who has been at work all week and you cannot talk or act like an idiot, as you might do with your contemporaries; you have to be able to communicate. "
Wholeheartedly agree with him on this one.
The problem with the Academy team is that the youngsters are not exposed to the more seasoned league players and spreading the players around different teams would allow them the chance to take more responsibility and leadership which might produce a captain for us in due course.
I too learnt so much more as a teenager from playing with older club players (including several schoolteachers at my school) and not just cricket, but life in general and the conversations when games were rained off still live with me to this day some 30 years later!
I see Vaughan doesn't change his spots ... they've taken 30 minutes a day off matches yet we still hear cricketers play too much ... but what happens when games finish early ... do these dedicated cricketers use the time to practice .... don't make me laugh ... & would county cricketers be willing to take a 25% pay cut .... again stop being silly.
Vaughan shows that he's just another of the Willis & Atherton club who simply dont care about the county game
I thought precisely the opposite. He cares so much about County Cricket that he wants to improve the standard of competition and quality of cricket played. I found his reassertion of the value and quality of League Cricket very refreshing - and surprising - to be honest.
Let's face it, Vaughan has never been a big supporter of County Cricket. Like several other Test players of note, including a certain M. Hoggard, he sees it as a little more than a training ground for Test matches. He completely misses its importance to real cricket fans, and the implications that cutting it back would have on memberships and fan support.
I was never a big Vaughan fan, especially after the self-serving way he used the club to further his personal agenda, even to the extent of strong-arming McGrath and Moxon into re-jigging the batting lineup so he could push his flagging England aspirations.
Let's hope he never gets into a position of power with the ECB.
You won't need to buy the book at this rate as the Times and the Yorkshire Post seem to have regular articles on it.
Here is link to the one from todays YP - the main article is less interesting than the end where it gives short summaries of Vaughan's views on various things. Mixed view of Boycs, big fan of Close and Trueman and he detests Illy as well as Metcalfe.
It looks to be a fairly opinionated book instead of the usual safe autobiography.
Almost seems like a settling of accounts to me. He's certainly burnt a few bridges with the Yorkshire hierarchy, and I'm not sure England management would appreciate his tell-all style either. I guess he won't be looking for a future with Yorkshire or the ECB.
I certainly agree with that. I'll buy the book for sure, although I'll have to hold my nose when I come to the section on further cuts to the CC.
Vaughn has always had an opinion - very much in the Geoff Boycott mold, if you ask me. Generally looking out for himself, but his knowledge of cricket and career successes give his opinion's weight. You have to respect what he says.
If the likes of Boycott, Illingworth, Pietersen,Trott or any of the numerous players and commentators MV has slagged off react, this could turn nasty. I'm a Vaughan fan all the way, but he may get mauled over his comments.
Surely the important point is whether Vaughan's allegation is true.
If Trott celebrated with South Africa there's no reason why Vaughan shouldn't report the fact. Why should Vaughan protect him? There is a question mark about players representing England under flags of convenience.
If it isn't true - it's up to Trott to deny it.. and seek redress if he feels strongly about it.
I don't see that patting the opposition on the back, smiling and no doubt saying ''well done'' to be such a great crime. There was a time, not too many years ago when both teams would have been in the same dressing room after the match (and often during)sharing a few beers, laughing, joking and generally getting on with each other. Deadly enemies on the pitch but civil and friendly off it.
Trott's attitude could just as easily be applauded as frowned upon.
Re: Not everyone agrees with MV about Peter Moores
October 30 2009, 12:54 PM
I'm surprised at the often mean-spirited nature of Vaughan's comments. As a previous poster noted, he has burned a lot of bridges here. I hope it was worth it.
Re: Not everyone agrees with MV about Peter Moores
October 30 2009, 1:03 PM
i think he is financially and commercially astute enough to know what he is doing and he has plenty of revenue streams already from his property portfolio in Sheffield, his autobiography, his stuff with the ECB re young player development, newspaper commitments etc
Plus he can always fall back on his artwork if the cricket related stuff dries up
We will know it has backfired on him when he appears on Strictly Come Dancing, I'm a Celebrity or similar...
I think we're getting a bit ahead of ourselves here in judging a book that none of us have actually read. What may come across as mean spirited in a brief excerpt may simply be refreshing candour and honesty within the context of a book or longer passage.
Personally - and I know you'd expect me to say this - I'm quite impressed that Michael is expressing his opinions in an honest and forthright way. I'm currently speeding my way through Hoggy's book and while it's a good enough laugh - it is incredibly bland. A succession of drink-fulled anecdotes and thanks that reveal virtally nothing of the real Hoggard. Easy money for him, but a wasted opportunity in many ways.