Michael Vaughan will appear on Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel’s tonight on BBC One. Contestants take on a colossal spinning wheel and answer questions in the hope of securing a cash prize. Vaughan has made a name for himself in the world of Cricket punditry and analysis since his playing days came to an end. He was an Ashes-winning captain in the dramatic 2005 series, England’s first triumph over Australia since the 1986-87 series nearly 20 years prior.
With England having no such joy in recent years, Vaughan warned the current captain Joe Root that he needs an Ashes victory under his belt.
In September, Vaughan wrote for the Telegraph that Root won’t be considered among the best captains without winning the urn.
Vaughan wrote: “I realise I might cop a little bit of flak for this but Joe will not go down as a great captain until he beats Australia, probably even in his own mind, and who knows, his third crack at it this winter might be his last.
“Not many get four bites at the cherry. When you receive that great phone call to offer you the England job, your sole focus is on how to beat Australia.
“You want to win the Ashes more than anything and anyone who disagrees is lying.”
The comments drew a dismissive response from Root, who branded Vaughan’s analysis “irrelevant”.
He said: “I think as England captain you are always judged slightly on how you do in Ashes cricket.
“I need to make sure we win this series against India first, but Australia is something we’ve been planning for a long time.
“It’s certainly something that everyone wants to do, go to Australia and win, whether as a captain or player.
“It’s something you’re desperate to do in your career. But in terms of what other people think of me as captain, it’s sort of irrelevant.
“My job is to do the best job I can for the period I have the role. I’ll continue to give everything to the team and at the end of it, if that’s not good enough for some people, I’ll still have done all I can and I can be proud of that.”
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“Test match cricket has always been the priority ‒ it’s the format for our elite players.
“Obviously times at the moment have been tough down in Australia during the Ashes but they always are. We’ve lost the last two series 4-0.
“It’s laughable to point the finger at the Hundred. The Hundred is an unbelievable success.
“Our formats in county cricket and the Hundred, in the way they’re structured, are exactly the same as Australia’s.
“People need something to blame so they’ll point at probably the furthest point to reality because nobody wants to say, ‘You know what, we’ve not had the prep we’d have liked, we probably haven’t played as we’d have liked, and we’ve lost’.
“That happens in all formats, but I stress Test match cricket has always been the priority.”