Michael Vaughan is probably the best English captain after Mike Brearley. It is possible to give a captain too much credit for the performances of an entire team, but Vaughan deserves it with 26 victories from 51 Tests and lifting the Ashes against an Australian team at the height of their powers. Injury and the declining fortunes of the English team lead to his resignation as English captain and now he has completed his departure by retirement from international cricket.

There was a brief period in 2002 when Vaughan was among the best batsmen in Test cricket. Who knows what records he could have broken if he had continued in that vein? But there was a regression back to the norm and then Vaughan inherited the English Test captaincy after Nasser Hussain’s abrupt resignation. That was the beginning of a great run of English victories that culminated in the unforgettable Ashes series in 2005.

In retrospect, if his injury had never allowed him to play another Test match after that Oval Test, Vaughan would have cemented his legacy perhaps even higher than Brearley. The victorious 2005 English team was dodged by injuries, and succumbed in Pakistan. The death blow was the 2006/07 Ashes, in particular, the soul-crushing defeat in the Adelaide Test, from which England has never fully recovered even today. Vaughan, on his return, took over a team that were wannabe’s, not winners, and that was proved over the next few series.

Michael Vaughan’s tale is the same story as that of the 2005 England team, “What Could Have Been?” There was magic in the air in September 2005 and cricket, for a brief time, shone ever so brightly in England. But it was not meant to be.

Here’s to a great leader of men! May he enjoy his retirement better than he did these last few years.