‘They got at me all day’ – when Vaughan single-handedly rattled Australia

Michael Vaughan . 2005.

In the greatest series of all, England’s captain and a longed-for Ashes victory.

Before Vaughan’s life-changing moment, when he lifted the urn at The Oval, came a first brush with the Australians almost three years earlier.

The best Test team of all time, arguably the best, steamrolled England 4-1 down under in 2002-03 to win the match. Captain Steve Waugh, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and the rest.

However, Vaughan learned valuable lessons about how to defeat the men wearing baggy green caps while on his only tour of Australia. Three hundreds, and a total of 633 runs bettered in this century by only two other visiting batters in Australia – Alastair Cook and Virat Kohli.

Vaughan spent some time being called the world’s best batter, and more importantly, he was a part of the England captaincy. Twenty years on from the series that defined his career, he says there was “no chance” of victory in 2005 without the experience of 2002-03.

What should I do once I’ve won the captaincy? Vaughan tells BBC Sport.

“I looked back on the captains and players I had coached.” Steve Waugh was the standout. His methods, his manner.

” In county cricket, teams would bowl part-time bowlers before lunch to get through the overs. Every time I watched Steve Waugh, he would say, “Bowl bouncers round the wicket,” in the over before lunch. He’d make those periods the hardest.

“Like going on a field for a walk. I’d walk on to the field and say hello to everyone. Steve Waugh would simply look at you and make you feel about three feet tall if you introduced yourself. He intimidated with field settings, small words. not a form of abuse It helps when you’ve got an attack of Warne, McGrath, Lee and Jason Gillespie but he did not get the credit for his tactical nous”.

Vaughan won 16 Tests and one hundred on an average of 31.15 during the first half of his England career without being absent.

In 2002, Vaughan tweaked his technique because dismissals to deliveries that nipped back to the right-hander were “doing my nut in”. In his seven home Test matches against Sri Lanka and India, Vaughan plundered 900 runs thanks to a previous trigger action. Only two men – Graham Gooch and Donald Bradman – have scored more in an English Test summer.

Vaughan arrived in Australia with Sachin Tendulkar, an outstanding Indian author, who suggested he attack McGrath whenever necessary. Neither prepared Vaughan for the scrutiny of an overseas Ashes tour.

We arrived in Perth and conducted a gentle fielding exercise at the Waca, which turned out to be very successful.

“The local newspaper positioned a camera. There is a good chance of one or two go down when the squad is 16 or 17 and you’re playing for an hour and a half.

The final “old-school” England tour of Australia ended with the 2002-03 series. England played their first game on 22 October and their last more than three months later. After three Tests for one-day internationals, the Ashes paused. The tourists played four warm-up matches before the first Test, with Vaughan’s good form continuing with a century against Queensland. On the morning of the first Test in Brisbane, it did little to assist him.

” It was a horrible feeling. He says, “He says,” and it’s heartbreaking. As much as you’re desperate, excited and you’ve had the dreams of playing in an Ashes series, when it came I just thought, ‘ this is awful’.

The anthems, or “the pressure.” Walking out to sing at the Gabba – little things like that. I probably kept them a secret and performed a decent act, but I detested the first week of rehearsal.

In a Test remembered for captain Nasser Hussain’s infamous decision to field first, England were flattened by 384 runs. After suffering a sour knee injury, Simon Jones was taken off on a stretcher, and other plans suddenly failed.

“We’d had the talk about ‘ we’re as one, when we go to the Aussies, we go together'”, says Vaughan.

Matthew Hayden was given a few choice words by Andrew Caddick early. Hayden drop-kicked Caddick over his head for six. No one else said a word to him after he went at him once more.

Vaughan made scores of 33 and nought, with no real hint of the glut of runs to come. He was in a serious doubt the morning of the second Test in Adelaide, suffering from a knee injury that would rule his entire career. When Hussain went to toss up, this time choosing to bat first, Vaughan was still in the nets making sure he was fit enough to play.

He slowed to 19, and then there was a sliding-doors incident. A drive at a wide one from Andy Bichel was taken by Justin Langer diving forward from point. Despite what appeared to be a clean catch, Vaughan was unmoved. Standing umpire Steve Bucknor called for TV umpire Steve Davis, all while former Australia captain Mark Taylor – commentating on television – became gradually more agitated. Vaughan managed to escape punishment in some way.

“He caught it, but I knew I had a chance”, says Vaughan. It was “close to the ground,” the statement read. On TV it was always going to look like it touched one blade of grass and that’s enough.

You become more convinced that you are getting away with it the longer the review drags on. I was laughing to myself, because I knew what was coming. I anticipated being utterly despised. The Australians murdered me. They’re all. Langer took it all day. “

Vaughan recorded his first Ashes hundred and first time against anyone from outside of England with 177. To go with a dodgy knee, the Yorkshireman had his shoulder bone chipped by a Gillespie bouncer.

With the exception of Justin, “every Aussie came in the dressing room and shake my hand.”

England were defeated by an innings despite Vaughan’s effort in Perth’s third test, which meant the Ashes were eliminated on December 1st. There were still almost two months of the tour remaining.

Vaughan was back in action as England attempted to defeat England 281-run in the Melbourne Cricket Ground’s Boxing Day Test. His 145 set Australia a target of 107. Before coming home with a five wicket lead, the hosts were 58-3 and 83-4.

” The MCG was being renovated, “says Vaughan”. I can recall running my bat and seeing a lot of builders when I scored 100. I waved my bat to them.

“That game was probably going to win.” We needed another 60 or 70 runs. Australia was anxious.

As strange as it sounds for a team 4-0 down, England were improving.

Vaughan says, “We were starting to play better cricket.” “It takes two or three games to realise you are up against human beings.

You get the impression that they are just too good when you first look at them like robots or aliens. I understood they were quality, but if you did the basics really well you had a chance. “

England and Australia fought to avoid being defeated 5-0. With only one run between the teams after the first innings, Vaughan struck again. Australia won the match 452 with a sparkling 183, and Caddick took the rest with 10 wickets. England celebrated like they won the Ashes, not a dead rubber, and Vaughan banked another Ashes lesson.

He says, “I remember sitting in the dressing room and thinking, “You just have to do that three times to win the Ashes.” No-one spoke, but I thought any team can be got if you play good cricket.

I remember that I learned a lot from that series because I wasn’t thinking as a leader at the time.

More was taken from post-series beers with the Australia team – interactions discouraged by Hussain while the Ashes were still being contested.

Six months later, Vaughan replaced Hussain as Test captain. His goal was to rebuild an England team that had been harmed by years of beatings in the Ashes. Only four of the XI from Sydney made it to the first Ashes Test at Lord’s in 2005.

The only way to defeat Australia is to win the games before, says Vaughan, “wasn’t it two years of waking up and thinking, “We’ve got to beat Australia.” “You can’t suddenly arrive in an Ashes to beat that side having not beaten the other teams.

It became clear that we would have a younger, fresh, and light-weight team. What was very clear in 2002-03, understandably, once we’d lost the first Test it was ‘ here we go again’, because a lot of those players had been around the England side in the 1990s. “

The names of Vaughan and his players were woven into English cricket folklore during those unforgettable eight weeks in 2005. Steve Harmison drawing blood from Ponting, and Andrew Strauss ‘ catch. Gary Pratt’s direct hit and Kevin Pietersen’s hair. Andrew Flintoff’s batting. Bowling by Andrew Flintoff. Andrew Flintoff’s drinking.

The class of 2005 never played together again because of injuries that occurred even before the series ended.

” That moment when you win is the best moment, but also quite deflating because it’s all over, “says Vaughan”. You get adrenaline from watching a series like that despite the stress and pressure. When it’s over you wonder what’s next. “

Vaughan’s final Ashes cricket match was against the urn, which he had not known at the time. His troublesome knees meant he played only two more Tests in the 18 months that followed, including missing the defence in Australia in 2006-07. England were defeated 5-0 by an Australia team determined to exact revenge under the leadership of Flintoff, who was a shadow of the team that won in 2005.

” We got absolutely hammered, and would have got hammered with me playing, “says Vaughan”. The bear was poked.

“It was hard to watch, because a lot of my mates were playing. They wouldn’t let us beat that Australia team twice, especially in their own backyard, once we had defeated them once.

Vaughan tearfully stepped down as England skipper in 2008, although still with thoughts of playing in the home Ashes of 2009 under the captaincy of Strauss. It was not permitted by form and knees. In the four years between Ashes series played in this country, Vaughan went from winning captain to former cricketer. At the age of 34, he retired.

“Straussy rang me and said he wanted me to get runs in county cricket and we’d have a look, but my body was knackered”, says Vaughan. “I couldn’t do the work or the training.

” There was the odd morning I woke up and thought, ‘ come on, let’s have a go at getting that batting slot’. I believed there was a chance.

“I probably retired a little bit too young, but I would have royally embarrassed myself in 2009”.

Vaughan played just 10 Ashes Test matches, five away and five away, while keeping a low profile in recent English cricket history.