England Cricket / Ralph Ellis / 22 April 2009 / Leave a comment

As Michael Vaughan says he is "desperate" to win a place in the Ashes squad, Ralph Ellis wonders if the former captain could yet be England's saviour this summer...

If you want to know what Michael Vaughan has been doing during the winter, take a look at www.artballing.com. England's former cricket captain has stolen an idea from Martina Navratilova to create art by hitting painted balls at canvas - and surprisingly the results are quite impressive! Mind you at a couple of hundred quid a time for limited edition prints they would need to be.

Vaughan was unveiling his art work at Lord's yesterday, but he was also insisting that painting hasn't been all he's done during the dark winter days. Which is just as well, because I'm pretty sure his £250,000 a year central contract gets paid by the ECB rather than the Arts Council. And there are many who considered it was a waste of - ehm - Monet in any case!

Vaughan, now aged 34, could yet be the wild card for England's Ashes team this summer. England are now as long as [3.55] to regain the urn, and that's partly because Ian Bell and Owais Shah have both tried and failed to make the number three position their own. Vaughan's experience and gritty batting - if he can rediscover his form - could provide an answer.

The squad for the summer's first Test action, against the West Indies, is announced next Tuesday leaving Vaughan very little time to win a place. (Despite their problems in the winter England are surprisingly as short as [1.7] to win the series). But good scores for Yorkshire in the County Championship match with Durham which begins today could yet nudge him into the reckoning.

"I'm desperate to get back to play in the Ashes," he's told today's papers. "I want that more than anything. In the last couple of matches I was England captain I was running on empty. My time had run its course. But I still believe I have a lot to offer and if anyone doubts my hunger they should have seen me running up hills and through the streets around Headingley on dark winter evenings in January and February."

Vaughan reckons that return to basic fitness work - and his new found love of art - have helped him rediscover his laid back personality which could itself help his cricket. "Most of all I just want to get back to being me again," he says. "I am enjoying my cricket and being back with Yorkshire, so much so that whatever happens I will continue to play next summer as well."

Vaughan probably won't have enough time to force his way into the West Indies series, which is good news for Yorkshire because having the former England captain in their ranks could be significant in the County Championship. The White Rose county are [8.6] in a very open market to win the title for the first time since 2001, and having a contented Vaughan in their ranks regularly as well as the powerful hitting of Jacques Rudolph could be a significant boost.

Five things you might not know about Michael Vaughan

1. Known as a proud Yorkshireman, he was actually born in Eccles in Lancashire and the family moved to Sheffield when he was nine for his dad to take a new engineering job

2. He is the great-grandson of one of the sisters of early 20th century Lancashire and England cricketers Johnny and Ernest Tyldesley

3. He has been nicknamed Virgil since the age of 17 at Yorkshire - a reference to Thunderbirds character Virgil Tracy who is described on the official website as "the most serious of the Tracy brothers, mature and level-headed with an artistic side".

4. His favourite movie is the 1989 made Road House, where Patrick Swayze's character always keeps calm and smiles despite chaos and danger around him

5. Before the victorious 2005 Ashes series he handed all the players a copy of the poem Man in the Glass by Dale Wimbrow - go look it up to understand why!