England is a dominant team when it comes to white-ball cricket. The squad won the T20 World Cup in 2010. Since then, they have been extremely competitive in this format of the game. Over the years, England has had 10 skippers leading the team. While the stints of Eoin Morgan and Paul Collingwood are well-known, there are few players who were at the helm for a very short time. On that note, in this article, we take a look at four players you might not know have captained the England T20I team.
1) Michael Vaughan – 2 Matches
While Michael Vaughan is known for his captaincy stints in the other two formats, it is surprising to note that he has even captained the T20I squad. A player whose strike rate in ODIs is just 68, Vaughan was an unlikely name to feature in a T20 XI.
Nevertheless, back in 2005, in the first T20I that England ever played, Michael Vaughan was the captain of the squad. The batter then played just one more T20I for his country two years later in 2007. It was a game against Australia and Vaughan was at the helm for this encounter, too. While England won the game in 2005, the 2007 match ended in a losing cause.
2) Graeme Swann – 3 Matches
Graeme Swann is one of the players you might not know have captained the England T20I team. In this era, Swann was one of the best spinners in the English Team. Across formats, the off-spinner took over 400 wickets for his nation.
While the player has not captained the nation in Tests and ODIs, Swann has led the country in three T20I matches. In 2011, when West Indies toured England, both Stuart Broad and Eoin Morgan were injured. Hence, Swann had to captain the squad. He led one more game, against India, in the same year. The player got two victories in the three games that he captained.
3) James Tredwell – 1 Match
In 2013, New Zealand and England were engaged in a T20I series with the latter as the hosts. England needed a win in the final game of the series to level the tournament. However, for the final game, Eoin Morgan was injured and England had very few options to tentatively hand over the duties.
Hence, spinner James Tredwell was asked to captain the squad. While it did seem to be a brilliant opportunity for the cricketer, unfortunately, he was not allowed to show his skills. After losing the toss, England was put to bat first and after playing two deliveries, rain interrupted the game. The match ended without a result and so did James Tredwell’s captaincy stint after just two balls.
4) Alastair Cook – 1 Match
Former Test skipper Alastair Cook is also one of the players you might not know who has captained the England T20I team. While Cook’s captaincy in the other formats is well known, interestingly, the former opener had also led the team in a T20I game.
In 2009, when England was touring South Africa, Andrew Strauss was the captain of the unit. Alastair Cook was his deputy. However, for the T20Is, Paul Collingwood was the captain. In the second game of the series, he was not able to participate, and hence, Cook had to take over. However, the team lost the game. This match is one among the only four T20I games that Cook has played in his career.
