By Sam Hathaway
June 30 2006

This is the question on every England fans lips today and it is staring to become a reality. With Vaughan requiring a fourth knee operation the selectors have no choice but to pick a permanent captain. The candidates are Andrew Flintoff, Andrew Strauss and Marcus Trescothick. All three have had experience being captain for England while Vaughan was injured before.
Some people would say that Flintoff is the least favourite as he came under some criticism while captaining out in India for his 'non-aggressive' field placements. But Flintoff is also a doubt for the Pakistan test series on the 13th June so the selectors will most likely go for Strauss or Trescothick.
It is likely Vaughan will be out for 6 months but England fans all around know that the England captain will never be the same and his international career could be over.

Chairman of selectors David Graveney said: "This news obviously puts him out of what we have left remaining in the summer, so we have to deal with that in the short term."

But he added: "We won't be making any quick decisions about who is going to captain the side in the winter.

"Until the situation becomes a little clearer later in the summer, we won't be looking at that issue.

"We need to get as much information as possible about the injured players before we consider things."

When asked who would replac Vaughan as permanent captain Graveney replied:
"From my point of view I just want the best person for the team and we'll be deciding that before the first Test," coach Duncan Fletcher commented.

England fans will hope one of these two will not take the permanent captaincy and Vaughan will make a speedy recovery but it is looking more and more unlikely.