Michael Vaughan. (Photo Source: Twitter)
Former England skipper Michael Vaughan recently took centre stage and apologised to former Australia batter Matthew Hayden after a coincident moment during an Ashes clash between Australia and England had resulted in many lauding Vaughan for his intellect.
During one of the Ashes games, England managed to dismiss Matthew Hayden on the very first ball of the day after Matthew Hoggard took a catch at extra cover. However, Vaughan revealed that he did not decide to put Hoggard at extra cover and revealed that he was just there as Andrew Strauss had to use the loo.
“Hey Hados, I must apologise to you actually. Day 2 at Edgbaston, you strolled out to bat and I got credited for tactical genius for putting Andrew Strauss at short extra cover to Matthew Hoggard first ball of the morning. What you don’t realise, Straussy was having a sh**. He came on the pitch late, and rather than him run to the slip, I just told him to stay at extra cover, ” Vaughan told the Club Prairie Fire Podcast.
Check out the latest banter between Vaughan and Hayden here:
Vaughany has an apology for Matthew Hayden 🇦🇺 after sharing one of the great Ashes stories 😂 about how he got lucky with some of his field placements 🏴 in the Series!#ClubPrairieFire pic.twitter.com/pp2mJnuliG
— Club Prairie Fire (@clubprairiefire) November 17, 2024
Even I thought tactical genius of Vaughan and Flintoff: Adam Gilchrist
Furthermore, Adam Gilchrist, who was part of the same podcast, also talked about a moment when a simple coincidence was taken as a tactical genius by Andrew Flintoff. Interestingly, a foothold while the match was under progress forced the former English all rounder to switch to ball around the wicket. Notably, Flintoff was worried about his ankles taking stress due to footmarks on the surface.
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“Freddy became my nemesis, around the wicket. Even I thought tactical genius of Vaughan and Flintoff, the brains just got together saw a weakness. I talked to Freddie about it and he says ‘I was bowling over the wicket to you and there was a massive foothole that i kept rolling my ankle in. So I thought I am going around the wicket, just to ease my ankles, really. First ball’, I chopped it on,” Gilchrist said.