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Close vs Vaughan

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
CloseWinner
85.4

Close wins: Longevity

Vaughan
85.4

Vaughan wins: Dominance, Peak, Honours, Statistics

Candidates
Locked to Cricket

Shareable URL · /compare/brian-close-vs-michael-vaughan

Time range

Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇬🇧 Brian Close
85.4

Close leads in 1 of 5 weighted categories. England's youngest Test debutant at 18 and a fearless short-leg fielder.

1. Brian Close
85.4
2. Michael Vaughan
85.4

Category breakdown

Season form · Centuries per year

Career timeline · Centuries per year

Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.

GOAT pace tracker

Career stage · GOAT pace

Through year 5 · Centuries per year
1. 🇬🇧 Michael Vaughan5 years played · career day 4,016260 runs
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇬🇧 Brian Close5 years played · career day 1,825255 runs
-1.9% vs Vaughan at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇬🇧 Close004593255513
🇬🇧 Vaughan00000128

Careers are aligned at debut, so a rookie's first 5 years are measured against the same window in a legend's career — Yamal against Messi at the same age-stage, a tour rookie against Tiger Woods in 1996.

MetricCloseRetiredVaughanRetired
First-class runs34,994
First-class wickets1,171
First-class catches813
Tests played22
Seasons in first-class cricket37
Ashes series won as captain1
Test wins as captain26
Test runs5,719
Test centuries18
Test runs in 20021,481
Dominance w25%7880
Peak w20%8694
Longevity w20%9682
Honours w20%8082
Statistics w15%9092

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Close85.4
Vaughan85.4
The people
Close
Vaughan

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Make your case for Close vs Vaughan. The scoring is published in full — if you can point at the pillar or the weight you disagree with, we read it. Read the methodology paper.

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