Captaincy; how important is it?

[wpdavid]

Suppose you could point to the 1981 Ashes series as an example of the importantance of captaincy.

From different quotes, stories, stats, results etc my own opinion is that the difference between a bad captain and an average is greater than that between an average and a good captain.

I think your second point is absolutely spot on, which is what I meant by my comment about it not making too much difference so long as they are above a certain level of competence.

1981's an interesting one. I suspect that it was as much about relieving Botham of the pressure of the captaincy as it was about Brearley's supposed genius in the role. I suppose the two lessons from that era are (1) don't burden the star all-rounder in a moderate team with the captaincy as well, and (2) make sure you don't captain the side against the best side in the world.