Hussain will keep his place in the team for the second Test against South Africa at Lord's after the selectors named an unchanged XI in the wake of the drawn first Test.

But Hussain, 35, claimed he had "grown tired" of being skipper, only five months after quitting the one-day captaincy following England's World Cup exit.

Hussain revealed he felt the time was right to hand over the baton to Vaughan, who also replaced him in the one-day job.

He said: "I feel it is coming to a slight change in era.

"I think Michael Vaughan has shown in the last few months that he is a very capable leader and that's what I have been waiting for. There are some good lads playing under him and the last thing they want is a tired leader.

"It's not the sort of job where you just take the cash and plod on and stand at mid-off. I've always felt it's the sort of job where you have to give it everything.

"It's time for change. After last winter the stuff that went on off the field and on the field in Australia there were a lot of difficult times.

"I've tried to play these mental games but I found myself out there on Thursday not the kind of captain I wanted."

Hussain added: "I never felt I had lost the team. I never walked out on the field without everyone's support."

Asked why he had taken the decision to quit as captain now, he said: "A lot of stuff has been written and spoken. I have always had 100 per cent support. It has been nice to have had them [the players] behind me.

"I had a chat with the chairman of selectors this morning (Monday), I left the coach out of it.

"Basically I just want to go back to being a batsman, picking my bat up and batting if I'm good enough to stay in the Test side."

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