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| | GEO Sports | | Vaughan announces retirement from international cricket | Updated at: 1825 PST, Tuesday, June 30, 2009
 BIRMINGHAM: Former England captain Michael Vaughan announced his retirement from all professional cricket with immediate effect here at Edgbaston on Tuesday.
The 34-year-old Yorkshire batsman said the time was right for him to step aside and allow a new generation of players their chance to shine.
Vaughan, England's most successful Test captain, has not played for his country since tearfully resigning the captaincy in August during the home series loss to South Africa.
His career has been blighted in recent years by a knee injury and speculation about Vaughan's future intensified after Vaughan failed to win a place in England's squad for the Ashes series against Australia which starts next week in Cardiff.
Vaughan, who stressed he'd made no plans yet about his future, said he was encouraged by the way in which England under coach Andy Flower and captain Andrew Strauss were developing as a team.
Vaughan's record as captain during his five year spell in charge from 2003-2008 of 26 victories, 11 defeats and 14 draws, make him England's most successful skipper in terms of overall wins.
England's 2005 Ashes series win - which included a nailbiting two-run win at Edgbaston - was the crowning achievement of Vaughan's time as captain with his knee problem leaving him sidelined for months at a time.
Unsurprisingly, his form as a batsman - which had seen him touch the realms of greatness during the 2002/03 tour of Australia when he made three hundreds - also began to decline.
Desperate for one last series against Australia, Vaughan vowed to regain his place through sheer weight of runs but so far this season he has managed just 147 runs in seven County Championship innings for Yorkshire.
Meanwhile the emergence of Bopara, who this year has made hundreds in three successive Tests against the West Indies, at No 3, also dented Vaughan's hopes of a recall.
Vaughan scored 5,719 Test runs in 82 matches at an average of 41.44 with 18 hundreds and a best of 197 against India at Trent Bridge in 2002. |  |
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