Michael Vaughan: Time to Declare - My Autobiography

Michael Vaughan's autobiography is rather like his cricketing career. Plenty of dour substance, occasional flashes of brilliance, major weaknesses and a feeling of promise unfulfilled. This may seem harsh on the man who led England to an Ashes victory in 2005 but, set in context, the conclusion is painfully obvious. Vaughan was the best choice from a generation of poor cricketing talent. As captain he was similar to Mike Brearley whose place in the Test side was ultimately not based on his underwhelming batting average but his ability to get the best out of temperamental cricketers.

Vaughan's ancestry included J T and Ernest Tyldesley, legends of Lancashire cricket. He was born in Lancashire but moved to Yorkshire aged eight when his father was offered a job in Sheffield. It was fortunate for him - and unfortunate for Lancashire and Northants - that Yorkshire changed their strict qualification rules at about the time Doug Padgett noticed Vaughan's talent. Born with an inherited toe disease Vaughan, a sports mad youngster, attributes his injuries in later life to his inability to walk properly. Unfortunately, this highlights a weakness throughout British sport of placing performance above movement.

Vaughan was a typical teenager with a less than enthusiastic attitude to study and an over-enthusiastic attitude for acting the goat. He was a natural athlete but, by his own admission, "only became really professional when I got to about 25". Until then cricket had been a paid hobby with occasional "old school" dressing downs to remind him of his wider responsibilities. Failure is an integral part of success, the more so when others rate your ability higher than you do yourself. Once he realised that salient fact Vaughan's performances started catching up with his potential.

Vaughan pays credit to those who helped his career including Duncan Fletcher the coach of the successful Ashes team of 2005. Unfortunately, even Fletcher could not repair Vaughan's faulty catching technique. He provides observations on the cricketers he played with including the non-eating Phil Tufnell and the moody Nasser Hussain, "who was so insistent that people should carry his gear". All cricketers have their ideas about how to captain the side on the field and manage them off it but Hussain seems to have been supremely unqualified for either role. In fairness, once he became captain Vaughan quickly grasped the pressures which Hussain had been under, although his method of dealing with them differed from that of his predecessor.

Vaughan has firm opinions about the direction the game should take if younger players are to come through the ranks with the right skills. Whether any of his ideas will get past the eighteen county chairmen who control the game is moot. The Schofield Report was set up to consider all aspects of the game after England had been savaged by Australia in 2006, losing the fourth test in less than three days. As anticipated it turned out to be little more than a public relations exercise. Vaughan is too steeped in the traditions of the game to do much more than express his disappointment.

England have been unfortunate in their choice of captains. Flintoff and Pieterson failed (as did Botham before them) to live up to the form that earned them the captaincy. Vaughan's experience was not as disastrous although his batting average dropped from 50 to 30. Their failure made Vaughan look even better, even though he hung on for a full year after resigning the captaincy in to the hope he might recover his form and earn a recall as a bnatsman. Four years after the Ashes triumph Vaughan announced his retirement from cricket with an excellent record of having won over half the games he captained at test level.

For aficionados of the game this will be a good read. For those of us who don't follow the game too closely it was tolerable. Vaughan is unlikely to be bothered how people view his cricketing life having invested in properties, including two houses in the Caribbean. That alone shows how level headed he was, drawing on "a combination of Yorkshire grit and Lancashire flair." Four stars.

Bought as a present for cicket-keen nephew (0/2 people found this helpful)

Not bought for myself so cannot comment on contact but no adverse comments from receiver.

Painfully revealing in places - less so elsewhere (3/3 people found this helpful)

Michael Vaughn is England's most successful cricket captain and though that probably reflects the increased pace of international cricket more than anything else, it is an achievement for which he demands enormous respect. This book chronicles his journey and is a readable account (the one-star reviewer has not read that many sports books if he thinks this is turgid.)

I bought it after the book received a very positive review in the Wisden Cricketers Monthly, which majored on Vaughn's honesty. In places in this book - as he details his mental disintegration in the England spotlight, that is certainly true. In other areas - like his disingenuous explanation of his appearances down under at the time of the 2006 whitewash (which I didn't buy) and his comments on the 'Fredalo' incident (when he admits obsfucating after speaking to a journalist), less so.

The book is at its best in describing the heady days of 2005. Up to that point, it had been a healthy jog through his early career with very little revealed about his personality off the cricket field. As he becomes increasingly paranoid during the latter stages of his captaincy, the book becomes a bit of a slog (not in the cricket sense), as it is not pleasant to read of someone's anguish doing what he describes as 'the best job in the world.'

Vaughn is fiercely - and commendably - loyal to Duncan Fletcher; tactful, but far from uncritical of Flintoff and takes Nasser Hussain to task for being a grump (but Nass can hardly complain about that.) He has a populist pop at Peter Moores for being a 'management speak' type (though rather undermines his man-of-the-people stance by quoting his 'diary' from the time, which is one off Primal Scream theory in it's 'got to live in the moment' platitudes) and Chris Read, the wicket keeper, will have had all his fears about what his captain thought of him confirmed.

Nevertheless it is a strong example of the genre. Perhaps not as revealing as Pietersen's 'Crossing the Boundary' - which showed him to be an utterly driven ego-maniac - and Flintoff's 'Being Freddie' - extracts from which he could probably use to preface AA meetings, 'Time to Declare' is a thoroughly engaging view from the inside of England's formidable cricket machine. I just wish there had been more revealed about the way that 'sports management' - personified by Neil Fairbrother - operates, though - I'm guessing - that would be alienating for Vaughn's fans.

A "yes" for cricket lovers! (1/1 people found this helpful)

Bought this for my Dad who loves his cricket and loves his books and it was a big hit!

Good for Cricket fans (0/1 people found this helpful)

Purchased this as a birthday present for my cricket-loving brother and it was very enthusiastically received. A tome of a book but perfect for cricket enthusiasts.

Michael Vaughan: Time to Declare - My Autobiography

Michael Vaughan

Reader Reviews:

Decent Declaration (0/0 people found this helpful)

Bought as a present for cicket-keen nephew (0/2 people found this helpful)

Painfully revealing in places - less so elsewhere (3/3 people found this helpful)

A "yes" for cricket lovers! (1/1 people found this helpful)

Good for Cricket fans (0/1 people found this helpful)

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