Time to Declare [antikvár]

Preface 26 June 2009 It was a familiar enough situation to me by now, being the most recognisable face in the team and therefore attracting the attentions of the comedians and/or drunks in the crowd. We were playing at Grace Road, homely ground of Leicestershire, and on this early Friday evening Yorkshire were in the penultimate match of their TwentylO Cup qualifying section, trying to make it through to the quarter-finals. 'You're rubbish, Vaughan!' was one cry. 'You'll never make it back into the England team, no chance!' was another. A lot of professional cricketers, as they get older, become less tolerant of this kind of thing and are more inclined to have a dart back. It really did not bother me, one way or the other, although I was tempted to respond 'You're right, mate, I won't be playing for England again, because I'm about to announce my retirement.' That would have been true, as my career would soon be coming to an end, although I did not realise quite how soon. There was another TwentylO match on Sunday and the plan was to play in some NatWest Pro40 matches later in the season before departing for good. I had decided to retire from first-class cricket exactly a week previously, because my wider hopes of playing against Australia