CRICKET:KEVIN PIETERSEN can expect to be named England's captain today following the emotional resignation of Michael Vaughan yesterday. The 28-year-old batsman is the only viable option for the England selectors - a choice which will be rubber-stamped by Giles Clarke, the chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, which now wants a single candidate to unify the Test, 50-over and Twenty20 sides.
Alastair Cook, considered by many to be a future captain, is too young at 23, while Andrew Strauss, though he made an ultimately successful return to the side in New Zealand last March, is still not the player he was and may soon be fighting for his place.
Robert Key fails on the same criterion. He is considered a good and popular captain of Kent, but no one is sure whether he is quite good enough at Test level.
English cricket's national performance centre at Loughborough has never seen a performance like yesterday's. It was an emotional and deeply moving farewell from a palpably decent man. Just 20 yards away from a poster of himself, which had him grinning as he kissed the Ashes urn England had so memorably won in 2005, Vaughan paused a few times in his resignation announcement in order to fight back the tears.
The most successful Test captain England have ever had, with 26 victories from his 51 matches in charge, said: "It's the hardest decision I've ever had to make but also the easiest. It's a job I've loved for five years and I've put my heart and soul into it. My mind told me to pack it in and I just felt, if I kept going on, my career could come to an abrupt end. Hopefully this decision will prolong my career."
It was after he had thanked the players, the support staff and the Professional Cricketers' Association that he became particularly emotional and a spokesman from the ECB almost intervened.
"Last and not least, I want to thank my family." Tears came into his eyes. They've . . . they've been my rock," he said, then broke off again. "My mum and dad . . . I spoke to my dad this morning and he said, 'You can walk away a proud lad because you've given it everything and that is all I ever asked you to do.'
"Now I'm back in the ranks of all the other players and I need to score runs to get back in the team."
Vaughan (33), became the 74th captain of England when Nasser Hussain resigned in 2003. For some time now, he has been troubled by poor form. He went into last week's Test against South Africa knowing his reputation was on the line after averaging only 29 in 19 innings since last summer, and his average this calendar year has been lower than that. He has scored only 40 runs in the current series, which South Africa clinched on Saturday evening when captain Graeme Smith finished unbeaten on 154 to secure a five-wicket victory.
But Vaughan was also struggling in a more subtle sense. There is a feeling that players no longer respond to him as they did.
But the coach, Peter Moores, cannot escape blame either. If the poor form continues he will be next to go.
England can count themselves careless because they lost two captains at the weekend, as Paul Collingwood gave up the one-day job. "It is a total coincidence - I made up my mind on Thursday," he said. But he is Vaughan's best friend in cricket and it is almost inconceivable that this shrewd and political cricketer did not know which way the wind was blowing - in Pietersen's direction.
