LONDON, Dec 24: England coach Peter Moores has refused to rule out a return to the Test squad for former captain Michael Vaughan when the squad for the tour of the West Indies is announced on Monday.

Vaughan spent five years as both England’s Test and one-day captain before resigning during the home Test series against South Africa in August, a campaign England lost, having struggled for runs.

He then took time out from the international arena but was unable to find form with Yorkshire.

The 34-year-old was not selected for the recently concluded tour of India, where England were thrashed 5-0 in the One-day Internationals and lost the two-match Test series 1-0 with one draw.

Nevertheless, Vaughan was awarded a lucrative England central contract and spent time in India with England’s performance or back-up squad.

He still believes he has an international future and the man who led England to Ashes glory in 2005 would love another crack at Australia during next year’s home series.And with India seeing top-order batsman Ian Bell once again failing to make much of an impact and England seemingly reluctant to give Owais Shah a chance to transfer his one-day form to the Test format, Vaughan has been touted as a candidate for the West Indies tour.

“Michael has had no cricket,” Moores told Sky Sports on Wednesday. “But we have got to look at where we are now as a team and what we think is right to go forward as a batting unit.

“So we will look at those decisions once the dust has settled, get the views of people like [national selector] Geoff Miller, and the views of the side of the camp and make our decisions.

“Michael made a very strong point he wants to play for England again, he is very keen to, and with that committed himself to go to Bangalore for the performance camp.

“Unfortunately, with the terrorist action in Mumbai it was cut short. But we do know in Michael we have someone who is outstanding as an individual but is also a fantastic player,” he added.

“We left out Owais Shah for the two Tests after doing very well in the one-dayers and is pushing very hard for his Test place.

“So we have to look at that and say once Christmas is finished and make our decisions and pick what we think is the best squad to go and perform in the West Indies and following the West Indies away and at home we’ve got the Ashes coming up.”

Nasser Hussain, the man Vaughan succeeded as England captain in 2003, said now was not the time to call-up the Yorkshire strokeplayer.

“Bringing him back at this stage cannot be justified and would create more problems than it solves,” Hussain wrote in a column for the Daily Mail.

“Don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of Michael’s batting and the experience he would bring as a successful ex-captain. But the time isn’t right.

“Since retiring as Test skipper in the summer, Michael has done nothing to justify winning back a place in England’s top order.”

—AFP