Former England skipper Nasser Hussain has admitted that the "young" and "vibrant" South African captain Graeme Smith made him feel "stale" in comparison and it was one of the reasons why he decided to quit his post in the midst of the Test series against the Proteas.

Hussain, who quit as the England Test captain after the drawn first Test against South Africa last week, also reveals that for the first time ever he did not captain the first Test in the way "Nasser Hussain would have done" because he was not brave enough to follow his gut feeling. Instead, he was more worried about "how I'd look to the press corps".

Hussain, making the revelations in his syndicated column in the Sunday Telegraph, is startlingly honest when he says "I was feeling stale as a captain especially when I saw their young, vibrant, in-your-face captain come out to bat."

The same England skipper who had triggered a war of words with Smith on the eve of the first Test, praises Smith saying, "I am very impressed with Graeme Smith. He has the energy which I like to think I had when I started."

And now the time has come, feels Hussain, for a "new era and a dynamic new captain".

Referring to his rather abrupt decision to quit, Hussain says the fact that they had drawn the first Test against South Africa, made it easier for him resign from his post.

"If we had lost at Edgbaston it would have been different. If we had lost the first Test I would not have resigned because I would have believed I had messed up the game and it was up to me to turn the series round.