Michael Vaughan forced to pull out of race for ECB director of cricket due to 'limitations' of the role

It is thought that the former England captain has too many other commitments

Michael Vaughan felt the director of cricket role ‘was not the right job for me at this moment in time’ (Reuters)

Michael Vaughan has ruled himself out of the running for the job of director of cricket at the England and Wales Cricket Board because of the “limitations” of the role.

The former England captain had been among the front-runners for the post, which was created after Paul Downton was sacked as England’s managing director.

It was thought that Vaughan, 40, had too many other commitments to fulfil the role. He told The Daily Telegraph, for whom he is a columnist, that he had spoken to Tom Harrison, the new chief executive of the ECB, about the position.

“But after really good talks with Tom, and gaining an understanding about the role, I felt this was not the right time for me to move into such a position,” he revealed.

“At no stage was I offered the role or never reached the stage of talking about terms and conditions. We just had discussions about the job, how it was going to work and how the ECB see it operating.

“It will be a position of huge importance to the development of English cricket over the long term but during our talks the limitations of the role became clear to me and I realised it was not the right job for me at this moment in time.”

The announcement leaves another former Ashes-winning captain, Andrew Strauss, as the favourite for the job, and he has received backing from former England spinner Graeme Swann, who said: “Strauss is a fantastic leader, he knows cricket inside out and is a born diplomat and politician. I can’t think of anyone better for the role.”

That was not a view taken by Vaughan’s fellow columnist, Geoffrey Boycott, who said Strauss was too close to his former opening partner, Alastair Cook. In a vitriolic attack he said of the current Test captain: “Alastair is so up his own a***, he thinks he is untouchable as England captain.” Boycott added. “Cook acts as if he is the best captain England have ever had.”

PA