Changing the guard

There's been some big stories prowling around the sports media over the past few days, all about who becomes the next Captain of the England cricket team.

What's happened is that the pressure of being In Charge has gotten to the two people who had the job last week. Michael Vaughan had that pressure steadily grinding him down to the point where he couldn't get the consistency going with his batting and Paul Collingwood could barely score a run for all of this season. And when that happens to a player, it undermines their position in the team, let alone their ability to lead that team. They're both excellent captains with their tactics but the pressure does get to players after a while.

I've had the captaincy job a few times in my cricketing life, in fact I had an absolute ball running the indoor team that we had going in our project for a few years. We always punched above what we should have done and I had a lot of pride in leading that bunch of players. I had to lead that team by example too, as it was when I could take a full part with my bowling. Nowadays, I'd have had to be a non-playing captain because my bowling is That Bad.

Indoor cricket tactics* are pretty much limited to who bowls or bats when though, there's no subtleties with fielding positions. There's a certain amount of pressure involved, as the skipper has to keep track of the bowlers to make sure his weaker ones don't get absolutely murdered. However, most of the work came before a game to make sure there was a full side of six players turning up. Which could often be a challenge ...

(Kinda appropriately, the last iTunes track was "We Are The Champions" and the current one is "When I Was Young" by River City People - spooky)

So, I've had a little taste of Captaincy, albeit with much different pressures than the two who have just stepped aside for England. They had selectors doing the chasing thing but I don't envy them having to talk to the media. I've also never had my exploits on the cricket field analysed in a National newspaper, although I did get my name in the local paper fairly regularly due to putting in bowling that did lots to further our side's cause in games.

I can fully understand why Michael Vaughan and Paul Collingwood have stepped aside. Captaincy is a great honour and a blast while it lasts however there's a definite Hump where it becomes a chore instead of the rush that it should be. For me, I think running around before games to scare up a team was getting noticed by The Bosses, plus work itself was getting much busier. It was detracting from the day job, so I needed to step aside and hand on the reins. For Vaughan and Collingwood, the Captaincy was detracting from their day job (getting heaps of runs batting).

They've both been excellent Captains, setting a high standard for the next guy. That's Kevin Pietersen and if he carries through the fresh approach that he has with his batting, then we're in for a few High-Octane, Fun years as England supporters. Let's hope there's a good few Test wins in amongst the spectacular, plus I'd like to see a change in England's ability in one day games too.

*I appear to have been knocked off the top of Google for searches for "indoor cricket tactics", so I think I'm honour bound to attempt to regain that position.