Boys don't cry

	A forlorn Michael Vaughan brings his five-year stint to a close © Getty Images

Judith Woods, in the Telegraph laments how men, most recently Michael Vaughan, are making a habit of crying in public.

This time it was a weepy Michael Vaughan, stepping down as England Test cricket captain because of a succession of knee injuries and an unfortunate display of lousy form this season.

Yes it was a shame, yes, he must have been a bit fed up, but he wasn't sacked, he hasn't been thrown on the professional scrapheap, and to the best of our knowledge no one flicked a towel at him in the changing rooms. So why the blubbing, Michael? Did a big boy do it and run away?

Vaughan, of course, is simply following a well-trodden path of discarded Kleenex. Fellow sportsmen John Terry, Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham and Roger Federer have all cried in public. Former leader of the Free World Bill Clinton incorporated the judicious shedding of tears into his election campaign strategy (apparently he's far better at turning on the taps than Hillary) and in 1997 our own political statesman Chris Patten wept patriotically, honourably, before the massed ranks of the world's media - well, he had lost us Hong Kong, as opposed to just a friendly against Holland.

The Independent's James Lawton says Vaughan's tears should have been about "the bankruptcy of spirit and philosophy displayed by teams who for one reason or another – but mainly a lack of hard-nosed competitive values – had slipped beyond their powers of leadership."