/ Michael Vaughan / 02 August 2011 /

He's a former England captain who led his side to 2005 Ashes glory and was once ranked the number one Test batsman in the world. He's now Betting.Betfair.com's main cricket man. We give you...Michael Vaughan.

On November 25 1999 Michael Vaughan found himself at the crease in Johannesburg with England four wickets down for just two runs against South Africa. The feared Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock were sharing the new ball on a damp wicket where it was anyone's guess as to what it was going to do next. England stalwarts Michael Atherton, Mark Butcher, Nasser Hussain and Alec Stewart were all back in the hutch. Vaughan was making his international debut. But as those wickets fell around him he played like an experienced campaigner who had seen it all before and scored a composed 33 on the sort of wicket Donald and Pollock would have dreamt about rolling up, packing it up and carrying around with them all around the world.

He went on to play 82 Tests for England and 86 ODIs, scoring runs all over the world in elegant fashion, effortlessly driving through the covers and pulling off the back foot. By the time he called it a day in June 2009 after a series of long-term injuries he had scored just under 6,000 Test runs an average of more than 40. The highlight of his batting performances came during the 2002-3 Ashes Series in Australia when he became the first visiting batsman to score over 600 runs in a series, including a flawless match-winning 183 in the second innings of the fifth Test in Sydney. His performances saw him shoot up the Test rankings and he was briefly the number one batsman in the world.

As an England player though, the best was yet to come. Having been appointed Test captain in 2003 he built a team that worked together as a unit and where everyone's role was clearly defined. In the 2005 Ashes Series he out-thought Ricky Ponting and England out-played Australia as he became the first captain in 18 years to guide England to Ashes glory.

These days Michael divides his time between playing golf, working as an analyst for the BBC and offering Betting.Betfair readers priceless insight and winning tips on all England matches.

Previous entries by Michael Vaughan:

https://betting.betfair.com/cricket/test-previews/michael-vaughan-we-must-back-england-at-odds-again-190711.html

https://betting.betfair.com/cricket/test-previews/michael-vaughan-first-blood-england-200711.html

https://betting.betfair.com/cricket/england-cricket/michael-vaughan-england-to-clean-up-by-day-four-280711.html

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