Michael Vaughan expects Andrew Strauss one-day exit

Former England captain Michael Vaughan has said Andrew Strauss could quit international one-day cricket following Saturday's World Cup exit.

He told BBC Sport England's 10-wicket quarter-final defeat by Sri Lanka could be the captain's last one-day game.

Strauss' position is likely to come under scrutiny in the May review of England's winter performances.

Coach Andy Flower said he had spoken to Strauss about the role but added it was not the time to make "snap judgements".

"I don't think making snap judgements at the end of five months solid cricket is the right time to be doing it," Flower told BBC Sport's Joe Wilson.

"If we give ourselves a couple of weeks we will see things a lot clearer then. Strauss and I will be discussing it at some stage in the near future."

But Vaughan, who captained England in 60 ODIs between 2003 and 2007, during which he was also Test captain, believes Strauss will make the decision to step down.

Speaking to BBC Sport's Rishi Persad he said: "He is a mature bloke and a mature captain and his heart is in the captaincy.

"He is an outstanding Test captain and his one-day batting has improved over the last year or so.

"But he'll also understand that when he gets home and the dust settles he needs to decide what is best for the England team and the England set-up.

"You are away for so long. He has a lovely young family and it comes to a stage when he needs to ask himself if he needs to be doing that consistently and will he be at the next World Cup in four year's time. You have to say he probably won't be.

"He may carry on into the summer for continuity into the India series. But I have a sneaky suspicion that [the Sri Lanka quarter-final] was his last game."

England were comprehensibly beaten in Colombo, as Sri Lanka openers Upul Tharanga and Tillakaratne Dilshan both scored superb centuries to make light work of the 229-6 posted by Strauss' side.

The defeat brings to an end a rollercoaster, five-month winter for England. They began with a 3-1 Ashes series victory in Australia, then lost the one-day series 6-1 before embarking on what ultimately proved a disappointing World Cup campaign.

"Throughout the whole World Cup, England have been scratching around for a formula and a performance you have to produce against these kind of teams [Sri Lanka] and in these kind of conditions," said Vaughan.

"You get the feeling they thought they could rock up and it was all going to be all right on the night.

"For some reasons they played fearful cricket and I don't know why that is because for a year or so now we've seen the batsmen take on the bowlers and try and get the boundaries.

"This performance against Sri Lanka was a bit like the old school England, when I was involved in 2006-7 and before that when you would just try and knock yourself to a target and try to defend it."

Vaughan suggested one of England's major flaws was a lack of powerful, destructive batsmen in the mould of Tharanga or Dilshan.

"It was clear from the way Sri Lanka played that you have to have the ability to hit the ball over the circle, you have to hit it hard," he said. "Consistently throughout the tournament, England's batsmen haven't really been able to do that.

"I can understand in a way that they wanted to keep the team unity from the Ashes together, but it is clear that in these conditions you need players who can clear the ropes and we didn't have enough of that.

"In terms of bowling, Graeme Swann has been the only bowler you felt could get wickets at key moments, the rest have been struggling."

Vaughan also bemoaned the heavy schedule imposed on the players, which has had them playing non-stop away from home for five months.

"The schedule has been ridiculous and the England and Wales Cricket Board need to look at themselves," added Vaughan. "In 2003 and 2007 we complained about it, and the same thing happens in 2011.

"Saying that, tired or not, you don't lose to Bangladesh and you don't lose to Ireland. England have been confused. In terms of one-day cricket, away from home, England have got a lot of questions to answer."

These are some of the issues Flower will no doubt be focusing on in May's review.

"There is a lot of good stuff the England team have done over the winter, but there are some lessons we can learn from some of the mistakes we have made," he admitted.

"We've been very inconsistent as a one-day side over the last couple of months. After the Ashes, in the series against Australia, we played some reasonable cricket but were soundly beaten out there and that knocked our confidence a little.

"Out here we haven't delivered the skills that are necessary in these kind of conditions.

"To be honest, I think fatigue is part of it, but we didn't play well enough and that is the crux of the matter. There are various reasons for that.

"We have a really good couple of years both in Test and one-day cricket so it's really disappointing we couldn't do better in the World Cup."