Michael Vaughan set to retire on Tuesday

Former England captain Michael Vaughan is set to announce his retirement from senior cricket tomorrow.

The Yorkshire batsman's future has been the subject of speculation ever since he was left out of England's Ashes training squad last week.

British newspaper reports on yesterday said his retirement was imminent and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) subsequently announced the 34-year-old Vaughan would hold a press conference at Edgbaston tomorrow.

England are due to play Warwickshire in an Ashes warm-up match there on Wednesday.

It was at Edgbaston that Vaughan led England to a nailbiting two-run win over Australia four years ago.

It was a victory that helped England to a 2-1 Test series win over their oldest rivals and a first Ashes campaign victory since 1986/87.

That series was the high point of Vaughan's time in charge of England, with a persistent knee injury leaving him on the sidelines for months at a time.

Unsurprisingly, his form as a batsman - which had seen touch the realms of greatness during the 2002/03 tour of Australia - also began to decline.

He resigned the England captaincy in tears in August last year after the home series against South Africa was lost and has not played for England since.

Vaughan, England's most successful Test captain in terms of overall wins, with 26 victories, 11 defeats and 14 draws in his five-year spell in charge, vowed to force his way back into the team through sheer weight of runs.

But never the most prolific of run-getters in county cricket, he has managed just 147 runs in seven County Championship innings this season for Yorkshire.

Meanwhile any hopes Vaughan had of regaining a place in England's side have been blunted by the emergence of Ravi Bopara, who this year has scored hundreds in three successive Tests against the West Indies, at No 3.

There had been speculation that Vaughan might make an announcement about his future following Yorkshire's Twenty20 Cup match against Derbyshire at Headingley on Sunday.

But his position is complicated by the fact that Vaughan is on an ECB central contract.

Amidst all the talk about Vaughan's future, Yorkshire left him out if their side in a bid to avoid any distractions as they looked to secure a place in the top division of the new domestic P20 competition which starts next season.

As a result Vaughan, who met with Yorkshire officials on Sunday, may now have played his final game of cricket at senior level if, as has been reported, his retirement announcement takes immediate effect.

Yorkshire chief executive Stewart Regan said: "Michael is employed by the ECB so he is unable to comment until after he has spoken to them and formalised the situation.

"As far as the club is concerned today is an important match for us and we can't have any disruption or lack of focus on what needs to be achieved on the field.

"Both Michael and the club felt it was in both of our interests for him not to play.

"The plan was for him to play but given the news we discussed the situation and felt all the hype and speculation going on wouldn't have been in the team's interests."