Moments after clinching his third Test victory in as many attempts, England captain Michael Vaughan performed more wonders on Tuesday night with a 180-degree turn on the issue of the split captaincy.

Contradicting his recent assertions that separate Test and one-day captains could inhibit the side, Vaughan argued that England’s one-day team needed fresh ideas.

“I know I said a split captaincy probably wouldn’t work,” Vaughan said, “but I think if it is going to work then it’s going to work with someone like me because I’m pretty chilled. If you’re going to win the World Cup, you need your captain to have maybe 60 or 70 games’ experience, because clever decisions could be the difference between winning and losing. Hopefully the new man can lead us to some success.”

Vaughan will be wary of losing his pre-eminence within English cricket, as Nasser Hussain did when Vaughan took over the one-day captaincy in 2003.

Within a matter of months, Hussain resigned from the Test job as well, realising that his standing within the dressing-room had declined. But the man expected to succeed Vaughan as one-day captain is Paul Collingwood — a relatively unassuming character, and a man devoted to Vaughan.

There is every chance they will blend as well as Ricky Ponting and Steve Waugh did when they shared the job for Australia.

Vaughan said: “Collingwood would make a good captain, Strauss has made a good captain and Kevin Pietersen has been mentioned as well. Obviously if the next guy comes in and does a magnificent job, that’s the end of M. V.”

Vaughan said he first made his decision to step down during the World Cup. “When I came home I spoke to a lot of people, and not one of those people said I should stand down. Two weeks went by, and I remember sitting at home with my wife and saying ‘It’s not the right thing’.”