Michael Vaughan to quit

Former England captain Michael Vaughan has confirmed to a friend he will retire from all forms of cricket. The 34-year-old has called a news conference on Tuesday, when he is expected to call time on his career.

Ex-county team-mate Paul Grayson, now coach at Essex, said Vaughan had become disillusioned with four-day cricket. "You have to be really motivated to play county cricket and he felt he did not have the motivation to keep going," Grayson told BBC Sport.

Vaughan led England to Ashes glory in 2005 and is their most successful Test captain, but missed out on selection for the training squad for the 2009 series. And his omission from Yorkshire's squad for their Twenty20 match against Derbyshire on Sunday prompted Vaughan to discuss his future with the county.

Although he plays for Yorkshire, Vaughan is still under the control of a 12-month England and Wales Cricket Board central contract until the end of the summer.

Yorkshire chief executive Stewart Regan said: "We agreed with the ECB we would give Michael every opportunity to get selected for the Ashes squad.

VAUGHAN'S TEST CAREER
Tests: 82
Runs: 5,719
Average: 41.44
Centuries: 18
Fifties: 18
Highest: 197
Balls bowled: 978
Wickets: 6
Bowling Ave: 93.50

"When that didn't happen I think it then opened up a different set of thought processes over what happens next. He will discuss his future with his employers tomorrow and a press conference will be held on Tuesday." He continued: "Michael is employed by the ECB so he is unable to comment until after he has spoken to them and formalised the situation."

Regan insisted that Vaughan agreed with the decision to leave him out of the Yorkshire side. He added: "The plan was for him to play but given the news we discussed the situation and felt all the hype and speculation going on wouldn't have been in the team's interests."

Grayson said the emergence of a talented crop of young players at Headingley prompted Vaughan to consider his county future. "He said it's the right time to go," said Grayson, who batted alongside Vaughan on his first-class debut against Lancashire in 1993.

"He said there are some good young players coming through at Yorkshire and he does not want to hold them back."

Six years after his Yorkshire debut, Vaughan won his first Test cap in South Africa where his first innings was a baptism of fire as he went to the wicket with England 2-2 and soon after 2-4. In 2002/3 he rose to the top of the Test batting rankings after hitting three centuries during the Ashes series in Australia and was appointed England one-day captain at the start of the summer.

By mid-summer he had taken on the Test captaincy too, following Nasser Hussain's decision to step down, and after securing a 2-2 draw with the combative South Africans, Vaughan's England won six successive series, culminating in the epic 2005 Ashes victory. He missed the return series down under in 2006/7 with a debilitating knee injury and England were whitewashed 5-0 under the captaincy of Andrew Flintoff.

Vaughan was back for the 2007 World Cup campaign but gave up the one-day captaincy after England's elimination. He hoped to stay in the team in both forms of the game but was never chosen for the one-day side again.

Vaughan remained in charge of the Test side and made a century against the West Indies in his first innings for 18 months in May 2007, and also scored hundreds in home series against India and New Zealand. But his form subsequently declined and in the 2008 home series against South Africa he only scored 40 runs in five innings, including two ducks.

In August, Vaughan resigned the captaincy in an emotional press conference after his 51st match in charge, a total exceeded only by Mike Atherton. His record of 26 Test victories is the highest by any England skipper.

He vowed to score runs in abundance for Yorkshire and again insisted he wanted to continue at international level as a batsman.But he was unable to regain sufficient form to earn a recall, scoring only 41 runs in four Championship matches, and was not selected for the tours of India or the West Indies last winter, although he was included in the performance programme squad that toured the sub-continent.

This season, he has scored only 147 runs for Yorkshire in seven Championship innings, with a top score of 43 and with no apparent hope of an England return, may now opt to bring the curtain down on his career.

Vaughan's former England colleague, now a national selector, Ashley Giles, said Vaughan would leave a huge void if he did opt to call a halt to his playing career.
"I've heard nothing personally and we haven't as selectors, but it would be massive news," he said. "Vaughany's been a great servant to cricket, a good friend of mine and great player for England and a great captain so it would be a loss to the game but I'm sure he'd have plenty of options if that's what he decides to do.

"He treated everyone as a individual and believed that guys should express themselves and not have the fear of failure and gave us all a bucket load of confidence.

"It was crucial that everyone who came into the side felt comfortable, almost loved, and that way you go out and play your best cricket."


Jardine Verdict: Simple really, he was great batsman and a superb skipper. England cricket will be poorer for his retirement. 'Nuff said.