Vaughan happy on the boundary

He said: "I miss celebrating a hundred and I miss celebrating a victory, and that feeling of being in the dressing room when you know you've done well.

"But I don't miss the real hard work it takes to get to that level. It takes a lot of strain, stress, dedication and commitment. My last year-and-a-half were really hard, fighting this knee injury. I just couldn't get myself going in county cricket as I'd kind of achieved everything in some ways and this knee was becoming a problem.

"I was thinking of golf and what else I could be doing. I guess some players of my age have to carry on playing but I've got other areas of my life I want to try to make successful. I'm excited about the next few years."

One new job is punditry and Vaughan, 35, is now in South Africa to commentate on the forthcoming test series. He's confident England will do well.

He said: "I think we've got a great chance. All the series I played against South Africa were always very close. For my last series as captain, they were probably at their pinnacle as a test team and they only just beat us.

"At Edgbaston, my last game, the odd decision could have gone our way and we could have won that game and won the series. And we didn't play very good cricket at all.

"This England team is playing very good cricket. They're very confident, have a good manner about them, a good mentality and good options. They are at a stage as a team where they know they have to get better so they are really ambitious.

"I'll be very disappointed at the end of the series if we don't come close to beating South Africa."

Vaughan was in Canary Wharf last Wednesday signing copies of his autobiography Time To Declare, an honest account of his life, particularly his five years as England captain. He feels current skipper Andrew Strauss is perfect for a very challenging role.

He said: "Straussy's done wonderfully. He's a good man to have in charge of the team, the lads respect him. He's got a good manner and he man-manages the players well."

That last point is crucial to good captaincy, according to Vaughan, who led England in 51 tests between 2003 and 2008.

He said: "Not enough's made of that in terms of captaincy. Man management is the key, the tactical side is options. It's about getting the best out of the players with man management.

"The ones who last longest manage the players. Whether they are scoring runs or not the players respect he's the leader. Runs are a huge bonus and you need it for self-confidence, but it's not the most important thing."

Does Vaughan have any regrets from a test career in which he scored 5,719 stylish runs? Just one, it seems.

He said: "I'd like to have captained England in Australia, but this knee injury cut that short. I don't think I would have made a difference on that last tour, in 2006, but I would just have liked the chance."

Time to Declare by Michael Vaughan is published by Hodder & Stoughton, priced £19.99.