Andy Murray sealed his place in the tennis world's elite as he defeated Novak Djokovic 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5) in the final of the Cincinnati Masters.

Having clinched his first Masters Series title, Murray will now move up to no. 6 in the world rankings, but he is surely in better form than the incumbent no.4 and no.5 players in the world in Nikolay Davydenko and David Ferrer, and will look to overtake them both with a strong performance at the US Open.

Murray’s mercurial talent has not yet been fully fulfilled, but it would not be a surprise to see him join Nadal, Federer and Djokovic in ‘The Big Four’ over the next few months. He is now a serious force to be reckoned with, and although the unorthodox decision to ditch his coach Brad Gilbert at the beginning of the season was vilified in some quarters, Murray has now been fully justified.

Vaughan, Collingwood relinquish captaincy

Michael Vaughan resigned from the England captaincy after South Africa clinched a series win against England with a tense five-wicket win at Edgbaston.

In a dignified and emotional press conference, Vaughan expressed how he needed to take a break from the game, and announced that he would not be making himself available for the final test of the series at The Oval. Meanwhile, Paul Collingwood resigned from the ODI captaincy after an altogether less successful stint as head honcho. Collingwood’s decision is slightly bizarre, given that although the captaincy has clearly weighed on his mind, he is risking a bumper payday should his poor run with the bat coincide with the Stanford 20/20 for 20 in November.

The upshot is that Kevin Pietersen is being tipped to take over the captaincy in both forms of the game - a decision that is sure to be controversial. Pietersen is perhaps the only viable option, being one of few players to command a place in all forms of the game, although his lack of captaincy experience is sure to be a massive concern for all parties involved.

It will be interesting to see how the captaincy will affect Pietersen’s performance with the bat, but this shock double resignation will hopefully clear the way for the England management to get rid of the chaff in the squad, and shake things up. After years of pussyfooting from the selectors, Owais Shah should surely be an automatic selection for the test side, while Ravi Bopara and Rob Key will also be vying for a spot. Tim Ambrose’s place is also under severe threat, and Essex’s James Foster must be deserving of a recall.

Play of the Week

After last week’s Twenty20 Cup Final, we couldn’t let this week pass without mentioning the undoubted star of the final - the fat dancing kid who was more interested in emulating Rob Key the dancer than Rob Key the batsman.