Two summers after inheriting a young England [Images] side from Nasser Hussain, Michael Vaughan [Images] led the team to their brightest hour by winning the Ashes from Australia [Images] after 16 years.

The Yorkshire man had come a long way from his record-breaking loss in 2003 to South Africa [Images] at Lord's in his first match as captain. On the way he had respectable performances in India, Sri Lanka [Images] and crushed the West Indies [Images] at home and away.

He notched impressive performances with the bat too, scoring 900 runs in seven Tests against Sri Lanka and India in 2002, the prelude to a formidable series in Australia, in which he became the first visiting batsman for 32 years to top 600 runs.

England recorded nine-consecutive victories last year, but they exceeded all expectations by beating the world champion Australian team to regain the Ashes, in what was the most exciting Test series for a long time.

Following is Vaughan's record:

Coach Duncan Fletcher hailed Vaughan, who has won 25 of the 31 matches he led England, in his recently-released book.

"In Michael Vaughan England have a captain, of whom they can be immensely proud. There is no doubt in my mind that he is currently the best skipper in the world," Fletcher writes in his book 'Ashes Regained - The Coach's Story', published on Monday.

"He thoroughly out-captained Ricky Ponting [Images] in this series. That much will have been fairly obvious to you from events on the field, but I can also tell you that his man-management skills off the field were magnificent."

True, Vaughan led England to their most prized contest in cricket. But is that enough to crown him the best in the world? Do you agree with Fletcher that Vaughan is the best captain in contemporary cricket?

Tell us!