Hussain - a renowned fighter (Getty Images).

By Andy Hampson, PA Sport

After four long years England may feel the time is right to start looking for a new captain, but with Nasser Hussain's resignation from one-day cricket they may have lost the only outstanding candidate for the job.

Hussain has seen England through thick and thin in recent times, enjoying some wonderful highs but overseeing some dreadful lows.

The recent World Cup campaign which finally appears to have seen him off certainly comes into the latter category.

The long-running saga over whether or not England should play their scheduled fixture in Zimbabwe ruined the side's preparations for the tournament and left them with a mountain to climb before a ball had even been bowled.

It was a shambolic and stressful episode which probably destroyed Hussain's confidence in his employers at the England and Wales Cricket Board.

Coming so soon after a draining tour of Australia, the amount of pressure on Hussain's shoulders as he tried to weigh up the interests of his players, his board, the ICC, the people of Zimbabwe and countless politicians was immense.

It is hard to blame him for wanting to walk away and, after nearly six months away from home, take a break.

Whether or not Hussain is ever seen representing England again remains to be seen.

Despite the recent Ashes debacle, Hussain leaves with a proud Test record of 15 wins and 15 defeats from 42 matches.

His tenure was certainly eventful with observers hailing him as the best captain since Mike Brearley in one breath and then berating him in the next.

England were unofficially ranked the worst team in the world after defeat to New Zealand in his first series in 1999, but after a prolific tour of South Africa, albeit in a losing cause, the following winter, his position seemed impregnable.

A glorious Test series victory over the West Indies, England's first against them on home soil since 1969, followed, and after further success in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, hopes were high that the Ashes would be next.

That they were not was hardly Hussain's fault. In both his Ashes series defeats in 2001 and last winter, the current Australians proved that they are not only the best side in the world, but one of the best ever.

Hussain's own form was up and down over the four years. His batting in South Africa was phenomenal but a year later he could hardly buy a run.

Critics always pointed out the shortcomings in his technique, but time after time Hussain's doggedness would force them to eat their words.

Stubbornness actually proved one of his greatest assets as a captain. He backed his players to the hilt, never more so than in Australia and over the Zimbabwe affair, and refused to buckle under pressure.

Occasionally his emotions got the better of him, such as with his angry gesture to the press box after scoring a century against India in the NatWest Series final last year, but his team-mates fed off him.

He led by example in the field and his fierce determination rubbed off on his at-times inexperienced team, galvanising them into a unit that looked capable of winning.

Yet with England, success never seems to last long. Hussain did receive some criticism of his negative tactics to combat Sachin Tendulkar in India, but his tactical nous was widely acclaimed during the winter of 2001-02.

Yet barely a year later he was being roundly condemned as he began the Ashes series disastrously by winning the toss in Brisbane and putting Australia in to bat.

Although the mistake - which he freely admitted - had little to do with the eventual outcome of the series, it proved the beginning of the end.

Pressure built throughout a disastrous tour which will be remembered by England for the countless injuries suffered by their players and the heavy defeats they suffered. Perhaps only Michael Vaughan will be able to look back fondly on it.

Hussain always had reputation as a fiery youngster, but matured immeasurably in the years that led up to his appointment as captain.

He was excluded from the England reckoning for three long years, but during that time he learned a lot from coach Keith Fletcher and senior professional Graham Gooch at Essex.

He developed as a cricketer and as an individual. He learned to channel the energies that had seen him damage many a dressing room door into his game, and his reward was the captaincy of the England A tour of Pakistan in 1995-96.

His performance in trying circumstances in Asia paved the way for his eventual appointment as England skipper.

Hussain first burst onto the scene as a precocious youngster around the same time as one of his great contemporaries, Michael Atherton.

Atherton was given his England chance first against Australia in 1989, but it was Hussain who was preferred for the tour of the West Indies the following winter.

Hussain made his debut in the same match as Alec Stewart but a regular place in the side was not achieved until after his return from the A tour in Pakistan.

While Atherton and Stewart went on to establish themselves, Hussain often found himself in and out of the side.

That changed with two centuries against India in 1996 and only broken fingers have since kept him out.

In fact damaged digits became a recurring theme of Hussain's captaincy, with Mark Butcher, Stewart and Atherton all having to deputise at various times.

Hussain's reign may not have been laden with success, but his partnership with coach Duncan Fletcher reinvigorated the game after the 1999 World Cup flop and put the country's cricket on a sound footing.

On the whole he proved a determined tactician and his fighting qualities will be missed.