There are no fairytale endings in sport, said Steve Waugh, gimlet-eyed, hard-boiled and unsentimental to the end. Were that he was wrong about that, as the best England captain of the modern era, Michael Vaughan, retired from professional cricket but not from life as of today, will no doubt be thinking.

Vaughan desperately wanted to go out with the crowds cheering and the Ashes again in safe keeping, especially since the manner of his departure from the captaincy still rankles.

Instead, his final innings was at Leicester in Twenty20 cricket, a form of the game that ill-suited his orthodox and graceful style and his wonky knee.

Vaughan's hopes for a fitting final act were encouraged by the selectors, who granted him a central contract last September.

That decision can now be seen as either hopelessly deluded or as the gift of a bunch of sentimentalists happy to splurge other people's money. Either way, it was not a good one.

But if the decision to prolong Vaughan's involvement can be seen now for what it was, then Vaughan himself should be spared from criticism because the timing and manner of a player's departure are for him and him alone, and self-delusion is a central requirement for all top-class sportsmen.

Bad form, injuries, fatigue and staleness can all be banished when body and mind are willing. The greatest can conjure this trick longer than the rest, but even they must ultimately bow to the inevitable.

It has been clear for a while that Vaughan has been kidding himself - if not the rest of us - since a cruel knee injury curtailed a tour to Pakistan only months after his greatest triumph.

Since then he has fought a losing battle with his body, to the point where it hurt to spend one day in the field, never mind five. If his body has betrayed him, so has form, to the extent that his place in the Yorkshire team is no longer a given. Best to go before someone suggests a run-out in the stiffs.

It was an ill-fitting end, then, but only because for the most part he wore the garments so well. For two periods, in 2002-03 as a batsman and 2004-05 as a captain, they were garments lined with ermine, so regal was he at the crease and at the helm of English cricket. Ever since then he has battled to recreate those moments, but, in failure, it should be recognised that few climb such lofty peaks at all.

Only Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar in the recent past have pummelled Australia's bowlers into submission as Vaughan did on that 2002-03 tour, when he scored three centuries and 633 runs.

His batting was tinged with greatness, pulling Glenn McGrath off his length and driving the rest with rare purity. The worried technician of his youth had been replaced with a more carefree maturity, which is not often the case.

He was not a great player, though, rather a good player who had a great series. The period either side of that purple patch was characterised by constant tinkering with his technique, first to become the player he did and then to try to rediscover that magic. His final average of 41.44, with 18 Test hundreds, reflects that of a very good, not great, Test player.

It is his captaincy, both in the build-up to 2005 and during that dramatic series, for which Vaughan will be remembered. His leadership combined the best of Lancashire, where he was born, and of Yorkshire, where he was raised.

His outward calm and sense of enjoyment (the Lancastrian in him) enabled a talented bunch of cricketers to express themselves fully and so reach their potential, and his ruthlessness and self-awareness (the Yorkshire side) gave him the necessary distance and authority.

As the rest of the country bit their nails to the quick, Vaughan was privately sick with worry, but he always exuded an air of utter confidence. He was at the height of his powers, but he enjoyed more than a one-swallow summer. He led England to 26 wins, six more than Peter May, and must rank alongside May as England's finest postwar captain.

There is much to be grateful for despite the messy ending. He goes with our thanks for some memorable moments and with the hope of continued fulfilment beyond the boundary.