Rob Key and Michael Vaughan Primed to Go Head to Head for Ashes Spot
Michael Vaughan and Rob Key will be in competition when MCC take on Durham as they attempt to kick-start their challenges for an Ashes place
Michael Vaughan begins his challenge for an Ashes place at Lord's today in a match that his captain Rob Key, a direct rival for a batting place against Australia, is pragmatic enough to admit is as much about personal ambition as team ethic. "Vaughanie is going to bat 11 and bowl a few of his off-spinners,'' he laughed.
Not many captains would accept that selfish motives have any part in a team sport, but Key is worldly wise enough to tell it as it is. The season's opener between MCC and the county champions, Durham, is primarily about individual achievement, about drawing first blood ahead of a packed international summer.
Key, as captain of the England Lions, the international shadow squad, is no stranger to such individualistic pursuits. While Owais Shah heads to South Africa for his IPL stint, having averaged 22 in three Tests on flat Caribbean batting tracks, Vaughan, Ian Bell and Key all have ambitions to take his No3 spot. There is no point denying it: Key's job is to manage it.
"I think Lions matches are often about people having their own agenda, which isn't always a bad thing," Key said. "You obviously want to go out and win, but every player here will be thinking that this is an opportunity to show people what they can do. That's no bad thing if everybody is trying their hardest to do that. I'm not too bothered about that sort of stuff. You would like to think that this game is not going to be the be all and end all."
Key's joviality should not be misconstrued because he is a shrewd leader, able to recognise the special circumstances of the game and shape his demands to suit. Good professionals know where to draw the line and good selectors can spot it a mile off if they don't.
"I played a few games with Vaughanie and learned quite a lot off him. All I am trying to do is make sure that everybody gets an opportunity to show what they can do. It's the same on the Lions trip. If somebody bowls two bad overs you can't whip them off and say, 'Sorry mate, that's it for the day.' "
That Key's stock is rising is undeniable, although Kent's captain has had false dawns before, often in mid-April. Andrew Strauss relinquished the Twenty20 captaincy by accepting: "Rob's a good operator and he is definitely one of the names on the list." He was on another list yesterday, named in the ECB's 25-strong Performance Squad, but his chances in Twenty20 are perhaps better, his innovation over the shorter format currently attracting more comment than his avuncular frame.
"Three or four years ago I would never have expected to be regarded as a Twenty20 specialist," Key said. "I still don't see myself as that but I have adapted pretty well to that form of the game. I have always felt that if I get back to my best form then I have something to give."
Five places remain unfilled in the Performance Squad, an incentive for county professionals to make their mark in the early weeks of the season. Five who made last year's cut have been omitted – Michael Carberry, Matthew Hoggard, Phil Mustard, James Tredwell and Chris Tremlett – so confirming that Hoggard's England days are over and that the selectors have finally abandoned hope that Tremlett, a fast bowler in theory, might one day become one in practice. Not before time.
Vaughan was saying nothing ahead of today's four-day opener, but even that amounts to a statement of intent. After his tearful resignation from the England captaincy last summer, he made a premature comeback late in the season amid a welter of publicity but the debilitation remained and he was excluded from tours to India and the West Indies.
In his own mind, if he does not reclaim his place against Australia this summer, as far as international cricket goes that will be that. It seems England's selectors are desperate for him to earn a recall and stir a few memories of the Ashes 2005.
Full squad: Ambrose (Warks),Anderson (Lancs), Bell (Warks), Bopara (Essex), Broad (Notts), Collingwood (Dur), Cook (Essex), Flintoff (Lancs), Foster (Essex), Harmison (Durham), Key (Kent), Khan (Kent), Mascarenhas (Hants), Mahmood (Lancs), Panesar (Northants), Patel (Notts), Pietersen (Hants), Prior (Sussex), Rashid (Yorks), Shah (Middx), Strauss (Middx), Sidebottom (Notts), Swann (Notts), Vaughan (Yorks), Wright (Sussex).
Not many captains would accept that selfish motives have any part in a team sport, but Key is worldly wise enough to tell it as it is. The season's opener between MCC and the county champions, Durham, is primarily about individual achievement, about drawing first blood ahead of a packed international summer.
Key, as captain of the England Lions, the international shadow squad, is no stranger to such individualistic pursuits. While Owais Shah heads to South Africa for his IPL stint, having averaged 22 in three Tests on flat Caribbean batting tracks, Vaughan, Ian Bell and Key all have ambitions to take his No3 spot. There is no point denying it: Key's job is to manage it.
"I think Lions matches are often about people having their own agenda, which isn't always a bad thing," Key said. "You obviously want to go out and win, but every player here will be thinking that this is an opportunity to show people what they can do. That's no bad thing if everybody is trying their hardest to do that. I'm not too bothered about that sort of stuff. You would like to think that this game is not going to be the be all and end all."
Key's joviality should not be misconstrued because he is a shrewd leader, able to recognise the special circumstances of the game and shape his demands to suit. Good professionals know where to draw the line and good selectors can spot it a mile off if they don't.
"I played a few games with Vaughanie and learned quite a lot off him. All I am trying to do is make sure that everybody gets an opportunity to show what they can do. It's the same on the Lions trip. If somebody bowls two bad overs you can't whip them off and say, 'Sorry mate, that's it for the day.' "
That Key's stock is rising is undeniable, although Kent's captain has had false dawns before, often in mid-April. Andrew Strauss relinquished the Twenty20 captaincy by accepting: "Rob's a good operator and he is definitely one of the names on the list." He was on another list yesterday, named in the ECB's 25-strong Performance Squad, but his chances in Twenty20 are perhaps better, his innovation over the shorter format currently attracting more comment than his avuncular frame.
"Three or four years ago I would never have expected to be regarded as a Twenty20 specialist," Key said. "I still don't see myself as that but I have adapted pretty well to that form of the game. I have always felt that if I get back to my best form then I have something to give."
Five places remain unfilled in the Performance Squad, an incentive for county professionals to make their mark in the early weeks of the season. Five who made last year's cut have been omitted – Michael Carberry, Matthew Hoggard, Phil Mustard, James Tredwell and Chris Tremlett – so confirming that Hoggard's England days are over and that the selectors have finally abandoned hope that Tremlett, a fast bowler in theory, might one day become one in practice. Not before time.
Vaughan was saying nothing ahead of today's four-day opener, but even that amounts to a statement of intent. After his tearful resignation from the England captaincy last summer, he made a premature comeback late in the season amid a welter of publicity but the debilitation remained and he was excluded from tours to India and the West Indies.
In his own mind, if he does not reclaim his place against Australia this summer, as far as international cricket goes that will be that. It seems England's selectors are desperate for him to earn a recall and stir a few memories of the Ashes 2005.
Full squad: Ambrose (Warks),Anderson (Lancs), Bell (Warks), Bopara (Essex), Broad (Notts), Collingwood (Dur), Cook (Essex), Flintoff (Lancs), Foster (Essex), Harmison (Durham), Key (Kent), Khan (Kent), Mascarenhas (Hants), Mahmood (Lancs), Panesar (Northants), Patel (Notts), Pietersen (Hants), Prior (Sussex), Rashid (Yorks), Shah (Middx), Strauss (Middx), Sidebottom (Notts), Swann (Notts), Vaughan (Yorks), Wright (Sussex).
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