London, June 29: Mike Brearley is arguably the best captain England ever had but former opener Geoffrey Boycott believes Michael Vaughan is no less and belongs to the same league.

With Vaughan set to quit international cricket, Boycott paid rich tribute to the former England skipper, ranking him as one of the best England captains ever.

"I rank him alongside Mike Brearley, because they were both charming people on the surface, but underneath they were as tough as old boots," Boycott wrote in his column for the Daily Telegraph.

"When I played for Brearley, he was an expert at blending a diverse group of characters into one successful unit... Brearley understood that each man needed something different if he was going to give his best in the middle.

"The same goes for Vaughan. He treated people as grown-ups, and made allowances for the fact that Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff needed to be given attacking licence," Boycott observed. — PTI