Michael Vaughan: They tried to cancel me, but it hasn’t happened yet

My Sporting Life is The i Paper’s look behind the curtain at what drives sports stars to greatness. This week, we speak to former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan. Famous for guiding England to a thrilling Ashes series win in 2005, a first success over Australia in 18 years, he scored over 5,000 Test runs before embarking on a long broadcasting career, where he is not afraid to speak his mind…

The secret to being a good captain is not taking it seriously

At times I was fine, a great captain. But I didn’t take it too seriously. That’s a good thing to realise that it’s just a game, but knowing it’s also not.

You’ve got to try and position yourself in front of the group to put across that it’s just a game. But fundamentally, we know it’s not. It’s a lot more stressful and pressurised than that.

I still just tried to wing it. I never sat in my room and really thought too much about everything. I just tried to react at that moment. Of course, I was in discussions about the plans for six months to a year, discussions with selectors or trying to get the team playing, but I pretty much just tried to wing it.

My dad gave me the best piece of advice

He said “manage the person, not the player.”

With someone like Kevin Pietersen or Freddie Flintoff, I wanted them to entertain me on the balcony and I wanted them to enjoy entertaining people. They were that style of player. I didn’t want them ever to feel that they were restrained – if they wanted to have a pop, have a pop.

Kevin got out a few times trying to whack sixes and people used to criticise him for it. I’d just go “why aren’t you criticising those who got out for 10? And he’s got his 90 odd?”

I played alongside Gary Neville when I was younger

He played for Lancashire and I played for Yorkshire. He was in the Bunbury Festival and got picked for the North. He broke his thumb and couldn’t play. So he stayed for the whole week. I’ve been good mates with Gary since. He looks a bit older than me, though.

Like Ben Stokes and Heather Knight, I went to a state school. I did some research and realised that fundamentally it’s the independent sector that dominates.

They have the players, coaches and the facilities. The only way we can guarantee state schools get the chance to play at Lord’s would be to have a state school dedicated tournament.

So 18 months ago, we started with an idea. Now, in the Barclays Knight-Stokes Cup, we’ve got over 1,100 teams, over 800 schools and over 400 girls teams. Now, these kids are all cricket fans because they play cricket.

The Ashes? Sheffield Wednesday at Wembley was special

The 1991 [League] Cup final seems a long time ago now. Especially now when we start seasons with minus 15 points down the leagues.

I have loved all my achievements but there’s something about Sheffield Wednesday at Wembley. To beat Manchester United, and we were in the division below back then too, I’d like to relive that. The old Wembley as well.

County cricket was when I was happiest

I loved playing for Yorkshire. I loved it in the 90s, just being on the county treadmill, going around with the team. The ultimate pressure and the ultimate kind of reward is captaining in England.

I adored being England captain. I love captaining. I love captaining more than playing.

But if you ask me when I was at my most happy, I would say in the 90s playing for Yorkshire. I absolutely adored it.

Biggest lesson for my kids is accepting failures

Your kids are you, aren’t they? You drive an attitude and a want in life. You want them to realise that life’s hard, it’s not always easy, but that’s fine.

You can fail. I don’t think we talk enough about failure. Failure is just a norm.

We fail every day, if you don’t try. The most important thing is making sure when you succeed that it’s a good one. Particularly in the modern world of these kids, they all want everything now.

My broadcast career is almost as long as my playing career now

I have loved 17 years of working in the media. I’m only two years away from equalling my 19 years as a player. People still see me as a player. They tried to cancel me, but it hasn’t happened yet.

I love working in Australia. I go there every year. I feel very lucky and blessed that I get the opportunity to turn up and talk about something I love so much.

I’m not too sure how long I’ll do it. It’s harder for the players now with social media but they get more rewards today, so you take the rough with the smooth.

Vaughan was speaking to promote the Barclays Knight-Stokes Cup, a new national hardball competition for state schools. Over a thousand teams have sign up for the chance to play at Lord’s as stars encourage greater access to cricket in state schools. Find out more: https://www.lords.org/mcc/barclays-knight-stokes-cup