Vaughan's position in the one-side has been under scrutiny for some time but the skipper had insisted, until stepping down yesterday, that he wanted to stay on.

But he now concedes he had been considering the matter for weeks and after discussing it with chairman of selectors David Graveney, coach Peter Moores and selector Geoff Miller, he feels his decision is in the team's best interests.

"I made the decision in my heart in the West Indies, but I didn't want to just come out and say that because I thought there'd been enough talk and Duncan [Fletcher, the coach] had resigned as well," explained Vaughan, who has not scored a century in 86 one-day international appearances for England.

"I came home and talked to a lot of people and not one of them thought I should stand down, so I thought I should carry on but two weeks passed by and I remember sitting at home with my wife and I just turned around and said, 'It's not the right time'.

"But if I'd have continued in that role there would have been absolutely no chance that I would have made the World Cup [in 2011].

"It's the right time now to get a new captain in charge, give him however many games he requires to be a good one-day captain.

"If you're going to win the World Cup I think you need to give your captain 60 or 70 games experience because big decisions will matter and clever decisions maybe the difference between winning and losing."

Vaughan, who took over as one-day captain in 2003, has always insisted a split-captaincy system may not work - but he is determined to try to make it succeed.

"I know I said split captaincy probably wouldn't work but if it's going to work it's going to work with someone like me because I'm pretty chilled, I do it in a different manner to a lot of other people and I'm very committed to continuing as the Test captain as long as the team want me," he said.

"I don't have any worries about the decision I've made because I believe it's the right thing for the English game and for English cricket to move forward.

"I do believe there is a chance we can get our one-day cricket back but we needed a fresh approach and a fresh captain with some new ideas and I think it's the right time for that to happen."

England's squad and captain for the two Twenty20 internationals and three ODIs against West Indies are due to be announced on Friday, but Vaughan does not expect to be included despite making himself available.

He said: "I certainly don't expect to be picked on Friday because I think a new captain would find it very difficult captaining me a week after I've just captained him in a Test.

"I think he deserves a little bit of time getting his authority over to the team and working his method of captaincy out and if I was there I think it might be quite difficult for him.

"I think the best thing for the team is for me not to play for a while and if my body's fine and if I'm playing well then who's to say I won't come back into the one-day series, but I know I have to go away and play very, very well because my one-day record is not that good."

Another player who will not be included in Friday's squad is Steve Harmison, who retired from one-day international cricket before the World Cup and faces key decisions about the timing of a hernia operation.

Harmison has been told he requires surgery at some stage but does not want to miss the Test series against India starting on July 19.

"I felt something go in my back during the warm-up and it just got stiffer and stiffer," he explained at the end of the fourth Test at the Riverside.

"I felt OK to play and there was no way I was going to miss this Test match on my home ground and the next day I discovered a lump on my groin area and I have been diagnosed with a hernia.

"We will see how it goes and I want to play as long as I can - if we can get through to the end of the summer that would be great.

"The medical staff have not said they want to do it this date or that date and ideally I don't want to miss any Test matches but ideally I want to be able to bowl at 90mph and not at 80mph and that's something I've got to look at."

He added: "If I'm still bowling at 80mph in the next week or so then I think we might have to have a look at it, but if I'm bowling quickly and it's not hurting as much then I will go as far as I possibly can to the end of the India series."