Michael Vaughan Retires From Cricket

Today Michael Vaughan took himself out of the Ashes 2009 running completely by retiring from all forms of cricket, thus ending a potentially summer-long debate about an England recall.

He spoke movingly and revealingly about how he did all he could to get back in the frame, and how his efforts eventually convinced him it was time to call it a day. In many ways it is a selfless decision - he was certainly on the selector's radar, with an outside chance of playing this summer - but he's decided to allow the the next generation the chance to do what he did: gain the respect of the Australians by excelling against them.

Unsurprisingly, the tributes have been coming in thick and fast, with Paul Collingwood describing him as "the ultimate captain". No-one would argue with that.

The Michael Vaughan legacy: classiest batsman of his generation, most successful England captain of all-time.

England Escape

England will embark on  a short foreign break tomorrow, in an attempt to escape the media spotlight ahead of the Ashes series. Their destination is unknown, and the move is very much in keeping with similar moves made by their new consultant, John Buchanan, when he was coach of Australia. 

Vaughan and Harmison Omitted From Squad

The Ashes dream appears to be over for two of England's 2005 stalwarts. Michael Vaughan and Steve Harmison were today left out of a 16-man Ashes training camp squad. 

Vaughan can have no complaints really. He is centrally contracted, but form isn't exactly an optional variable heading into a series with Australia, and he has none to speak of. Harmison on the other hand does, and can count himself unlucky. This season the Durham paceman has claimed 30 wickets in six matches, including 16 in the last two games. He could hardly have done more, and without the threat of homesickness this summer should have been included.

With the squad for the first Test due to be announced on July 5th, this is not a definite end of the road for these - and the other - unpicked players, but it's certainly an ominous sign.

Squad: Strauss

Anderson

Bell

Bopara

Bresnan

Broad

Collingwood

Cook 

Flintoff

Onions 

Panesar

Pietersen

Prior

Rashid

Sidebottom

Swann

England World T20 Report Card: Bowlers

England bowled well as a collective unit, with no stand-out performances.

Rashid - Economy: 7.30. Thrown in at the deep end and coped well. Grew in confidence and took three wickets in four matches. 7/10 

Sidebottom - 7.39. Not bad, but not outstanding. Took three wickets in three matches, and held his nerve for the last over against India. Just. Was given an impossible task in the last over of the West Indies match. 6.5/10

Swann - 6.92. Took five wickets in four games at a sub-20 average. Shouldn't have been left out of the first game. Bowled intelligently and wasn't afraid to take risks. Never lets England down. Is a better batsman than he showed. 7.5/10

Broad - 6.50. The best of the bunch. England's highest wicket taker with an average of 17.33. Has added much variety to his game, becoming Collingwood's go-to bowler. Bowls well at the death as he is hard to get away. 8/10

Anderson - 7.55. A bit disappointing because he has set himself the highest of standards recently. Still, a reliable performer who weighed in with five wickets. 7/10

Wright - 8.28. Only bowled seven overs, taking one wicket. A useful pace option. 6/10

Mascarenhas - 6.42. England's best economy rate. Bowls well in this format - would have had a great tournament if he'd matched it with the bat. 7/10

The People: Collingwood To Stay On As T20 Captain

Story in The People today claims that Paul Collingwood will ask to stay on as T20 captain. This is unlikely; it's not in any of the other papers, and I can't see Collingwood wanting to keep the captaincy - he didn't want it in the first place, and it affected his form with the bat.

Assuming the story is untrue, there is a dearth of alternatives. My pick would be Kevin Pietersen, but given the January fiasco that's not going to happen. They could do much worse than hand the responsibility to Stuart Broad.

England World T20 Report Card: Batsmen

Bopara - Scores: 55, 37, 2, 5, 46. A couple of soft dismissals aside, showed why he'll be a focal point of England's batting in all three formats for the next decade or more. 8/10

Wright - 6, 1, 1, 34, 71. Will always be quite literally hit or miss, but makes a good opening partner for Bopara. If it works, England get off to a flyer, if it doesn't KP's in early - win/win. His warm-up match score against the West Indies and his 34 off 16 against Pakistan proved that he can score runs against quality attacks as well as the minnows. 7/10

Pietersen - 31, 46, 19, 58. Vital to his team's chances. Has finally worked out how to bat in T20. Match-winning 58 against Pakistan was made under intense pressure given the match and injury situation. Has by far the team's best boundary hitting ability. When he plays well, so do England. 8.5/10

Shah - 18, 12, 38, 33, 5. The jury is still out to an extent, but he warrants his place for now. Has six-hitting ability - a rare commodity in this England team. Useful contributions, but will be as frustrated as anybody at being unable to push on for a bigger score. 7/10

Collingwood - 11, 7, 19, 15, 11. The reluctant captain's scores were not good enough. Always scores at a run-a-ball, but comes in near the end when England need illusive boundaries. Captaincy-wise acted with dignity and honestly, rotated his bowlers well, but made a big mistake in opting to bat first against the West Indies. Well worth a place in the other forms of the game, but T20 future looks uncertain. 6/10

Key - 10*. Hopelessly out of form coming into the tournament. Needed more explosive finish than he could provide against the Dutch. Main argument for squad inclusion seemed to be previous captaincy success, but he wasn't captain. Including his Kent opening partner would have been more beneficial. 5/10

Morgan - 6. Can't judge on his solitary performance, but has done enough over the past few weeks to suggest an England future. Exciting and - crucially for T20 - innovative, though we didn't see it in this tournament.  5/10

Foster - 13, 6, 1, 14, 3*. As an experiment it worked and it didn't. Quality 'keeper - the best at England's disposal, but an inferior batsman to Matt Prior. How do you balance his crucial stumpings of Yuvraj and Bravo with the middle-order boundary hitting of Prior? Maybe include them both, Prior as a specialist batsman. 7/10

Mascarenhas - 1, 16, 25. Curious tournament - was unable to find the middle of the bat. He's there to hit maximums and cause clean-hitting chaos in the closing overs, but it never materialised. Scoring 25 off 27 when coming in at four against India cannot have been what was asked of him. 6/10

Napier - Did not play. The middle order was crying out for his big-hitting finishing. Can't have been impressing in the nets. n/a 

England World T20 Analysis

Two good wins, one disaster, one comprehensive defeat, and one rain-affected disappointment. England did their best to single-handedly prove the unpredictability of the T20 format.

Overall, it was a passable showing. They won two out of three must-win games in impressive fashion; the Pakistan game in particular was highly pressurised - the consequences of defeat unthinkable. 

The Holland and South Africa defeats are hardly worth dwelling on. Holland were clearly taken far too lightly - putting in an inspired performance on the day - and South Africa, who have a superior balance to their side, were a class apart in every department on that day.

Had the West Indies game been 20 overs a side, it would have been fascinating to see how England fared. However, had they prevailed, it would again largely have been a case of the bowlers getting the batsmen out of jail. 

England are still not entirely comfortable with batting in this format. Interestingly, this tournament has taught us that a solid 50 over player does not necessarily make a decent 20 over player - and England possess a number of those. The likes of Collingwood and Foster - and arguably Shah and Morgan - are consistent run-a-ball strike-rate players, a commendable skill, but one which falls short in T20. Without Mascarenhas firing, all of England's explosive players are up top, and once they're out the run-rate slows to a run a ball - and a once possible score of 180 becomes 150.

Ultimately, England depart the 2009 World T20 in much better shape than they did in 2007. Two years ago England had no idea about their best team, now they're 75% there. As individuals, the players are getting more T20 savvy - though are still relatively inexperienced in the format - and the team possess a nucleus of young players like Bopara and Broad to tweak the side around. Some promising signs and a fitting curtain raiser to this summer of high-class cricket.