Summer of the Five Captains II...

Well, it will become reality when Swann takes charge in the I Can't Believe It's Not Stanford series this weekend, but could it possibly have been any more different from 1988?

Back then we "only" had four official captains (Gatting, Emburey, Chris Cowdrey and Gooch) with the fifth, for those who refer to it as a summer of five captains rather then four, being Derek Pringle who deputised for the injured Gooch in the field for a session in the final Test.

Who would have believed it would come around again with a successful England side, and a reflection of how the game has changed in those 23 years with the multitude of formats and meaningless limited overs games for TV exposure and cash? Back in 1988 we would have played a Texaco Trophy series of 3 ODI's, they were a warm-up to the Tests, played in whites and with largely the same teams. Certainly the same captain, well whichever one was in favour that week!

Slump coming ....