Was it the right decision for Michael Vaughan to stand down as England captain?

He clearly felt that the job had become too much for him and was beginning to overwhelm him, therefore it was correct. In terms of cricketing nous and his ability as a captain, he is still the best man for the job in my mind. It touched a nerve with me when he spoke about how it was affecting his private life because the job does become all-consuming.

Is he right to want to continue playing for England under a different captain?

Yes. At 33 he still has a little bit of cricket left in him and he should be able to make a good contribution in the Ashes next year. Without having the burden of the captaincy on his shoulders he should be free to concentrate on doing what he does best and that is scoring runs.

Where does Vaughan stand in the pantheon of great England captains?

He is right up there with the greatest captains of this modern era, from the 1980s onwards. He has more wins than anybody else and he led England to the Ashes for the first time in 18 years. He is also a wonderful player and scored plenty of runs while he was leading the side.

Who should take over the captaincy - Kevin Pietersen?

Taking on Pietersen would be a big gamble. My great fear is that the captaincy would reduce his match-winning potential. We have seen in the past with Ian Botham and Andrew Flintoff that the captaincy proved too much of a burden and as soon as they went back to being just players, their game improved again. Some players, such as Graham Gooch, actually improved when they were given the captaincy but Pietersen cannot get much better - he is already outstanding. I have no problem with there being a split captaincy with somebody like Andrew Strauss leading the Test team and Pietersen or Paul Collingwood captaining the one-day side.