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Birmingham: Former England captain Michael Vaughan announced his retirement from all professional cricket with immediate effect here at Edgbaston on Tuesday.
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 the 34-year-old'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.
Yorkshire batsman Vaughan, in a statement issued by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), said: "After a great deal of consideration, I've decided that now is the right time to retire from cricket.
Vaughan added that he reached his decision two weeks ago during Yorkshire's County Championship fixture against Worcestershire at New Road, when he realised that he was starting to hold back the younger players in the Yorkshire dressing-room. "Senior players have to be enthusiastic and I wasn't that passing on," he said. "I want to give them the chance to play first-class cricket and go on to play for their country."
Commenting on his decision, ECB chief executive David Collier said: "Everyone associated with cricket in England and Wales will be forever grateful to Michael Vaughan for his immense contribution to the England team's success. His achievement in leading England to victory against the number one ranked team in the world, Australia in 2005, was arguably the finest by any England captain in the modern era."
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 in charge of England, 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 633 runs at just over 63 apiece with 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 Ravi 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.
