Vaughan as captain

[Owzat]

I was looking at Vaughan's record in a slightly different way. A good captain will turn deficits around, make things happen, show some ingenuity and urgency. Does Vaughan? Well if these stats are anything to go by then Vaughan normally wins games he should win and not win games he shouldn't.

Vaughan as captain - leads on 1st innings by opposition

Australia : leads 80.00%, wins 40.00%
South Africa : leads 44.44%, wins 44.44%
India : leads 33.33%, wins 00.00%
Pakistan : leads 0.00%, wins 00.00%
Sri Lanka : leads 16.67%, wins 00.00%

New Zealand : leads 66.67%, wins 66.67%
West Indies : leads 81.82%, wins 90.91%
Bangladesh : leads 100.00%, wins 100.00%

And the crucial tie-in statistic that reflects how most of Vaughan's games as captain DON'T buck trends.

1st innings leads

00-24 runs : P2 W1 D1 L0
25-49 runs : P2 W1 D1 L0
50-74 runs : P0 W0 D0 L0
75-99 runs : P7 W5 D1 L1
100+ runs : P16 W14 D2 L0

Overall : P27 W21 D5 L1

The only defeat under Vaughan when leading on 1st innings was in Sri Lanka -a lead of 93 runs. You have to bear in mind THIRTEEN of those leads were against West Indies or Bangladesh.

1st innings deficits

00-24 runs : P2 W1 D1 L0
25-49 runs : P2 W0 D0 L2
50-74 runs : P2 W2 D0 L0
75-99 runs : P2 W0 D2 L0
100+ runs : P11 W0 D5 L6

Overall : P19 W3 D8 L8

The wins coming from behind as it were came against West Indies and New Zealand (both 65 runs and at home), and South Africa (eight runs away)


So this captain, highly rated in some quarters, can turn around eight run deficits and bigger deficits against the weaker Test nations. He's managed to throw away a sizeable 1st innings lead and if you analyse his record as captain closely he's not that fantastic. His two (most) noteable series wins came against Australia and South Africa, in the Ashes win he had a 1st innings lead in FOUR Tests and won only two. No side in that Ashes series lost a Test having the lead at half time.

Vaughan as captain by opponent

Australia : P5 W2 D2 L1
South Africa : P9 W4 D2 L3
India : P3 W0 D2 L1
Sri Lanka : P6 W0 D4 L2
Pakistan : P2 W0 D1 L1
New Zealand : P6 W4 D1 L1

West Indies : P11 W10 D1 L0
Bangladesh : P4 W4 D0 L0

Take away just the two weakest Test nations and his record is P31 W10 D12 L9 which is no more special than most of the recent past England captains who didn't get to play West Indies when they were very ordinary or Bangladesh at all.

Strauss : P5 W3 D2 L0 (Won 60.00%)
Hussain : P45 W17 D13 L15 (Won 37.78%)
Vaughan* : P31 W10 D12 L9 (Won 32.26%)
Gooch : P34 W10 D12 L12 (Won 29.41%)
Stewart : P15 W4 D3 L8 (Won 26.67%)
Atherton : P54 W13 D20 L21 (Won 24.07%)
Flintoff : P11 W2 D2 L7 (Won 18.18%)

*adjusted to exclude easy wins over Bangladesh and West Indies who are very ordinary sides and to include these would give Vaughan an unfair advantage given other captains didn't get to play these sides as they are now. This demonstrates how much those easy wins bolster his record, his record otherwise is better than most recent captains but that's not saying much since the side is also much better. Better tools, better results.

If you do likewise for Strauss it actually improves his record!

 

[angryangy]

Interesting at a glance, in fact, very interesting. I have a similar pet project that involves a comparison of batsmen's centuries and the impact they have on games. The weighting means that Australian batsmen are only compared against the team's own w-d-l record, so it is not simply a measure of success, but a measure of relative value.

In a similar swing, Strauss has an interesting match winning tendency that Vaughan seems to lack. Strauss has not yet contributed a Test match hundred to a losing cause. Graeme Smith is similarly interesting, none of his 14 have been in vain either.

 

[Sureshot]

You're focusing on his statistic's as captain, yet completely ignore the captaincy decisions which can't be recorded as statistic's.

 

[King Pietersen]

Vaughan's a fantastic captain, the results haven't been exactly mind blowing, but as a tactician and leader he's one of the best in the world. He leads from the front, sets interesting, exciting and attacking fields and rotates bowlers very well. The results may not show it, but he is a fantastic captain.

 

[Kev]

You also have to remember a captain can only do so much with a poor team (or indeed a good team). If you suffer a batting collapse there isn't much the captain can do (especially if he is already back in the pavilion, showered and changed ). Similarly if your bowlers are throwing its down all over the place you can't really set a field for them.

Stats can, and indeed do, tell you anything you want. Certainly listening on the radio yesterday, he seemed to be lacking a bit in imagination but on the other hand I've seen him set some really imaginative fields to certain batsmen that have played off big time.

As long as Vaughan contributes with the bat he should be captain especially as I don't see a standout replacement candidate currently.

 

[RoboRocks]

You also have to remember a captain can only do so much with a poor team (or indeed a good team). If you suffer a batting collapse there isn't much the captain can do (especially if he is already back in the pavilion, showered and changed ). Similarly if your bowlers are throwing its down all over the place you can't really set a field for them.

Agreed. Hussain was one to suffer that and he was good captain as well.

Stats can, and indeed do, tell you anything you want. Certainly listening on the radio yesterday, he seemed to be lacking a bit in imagination but on the other hand I've seen him set some really imaginative fields to certain batsmen that have played off big time.

As long as Vaughan contributes with the bat he should be captain especially as I don't see a standout replacement candidate currently.

Vaughan is great captain inventive fields worked to a number batsmen over the years. One of the reasons England won the Ashes in 2005 was because Vaughan was able to out think Ponting and actually show him up a bit.

The captain he is as long as he keeps on scoring runs like he should do and that his knee holds up, he should be captain for the next 3 years. I suppose Pietersen or Strauss could be the next captain but Vaughan should keep going for some time.

 

[Jit]

i think he is one of the greatest england test captians stastics doesnt anything and he is agressive type of captain looking for wickets all the time