Trescothick, who a fortnight ago was included in England's provisional squad for the inaugural World Twenty20 in South Africa, withdrew Wednesday saying he'd yet to fully overcome the effects of a stress-related illness that has kept him out of international cricket for nearly a year.

Vaughan, speaking on the eve of England's second Test against India at Trent Bridge, said opening batsman Trescothick, 31, was right not to come back if he didn't feel completely ready, as a premature return "could be the end of him".

"It can't be easy for him to say he's not going to tour with England because I know he's desperate to get out there and play," Vaughan told reporters at England's National Performance Centre on Thursday, where his side trained indoors with a rain-soaked Trent Bridge unfit for practice.

"I think by making this decision it could give him a chance of playing again. The last thing I wanted was for him to come out and play too soon because I thought that could be the end of him.

"It must be very difficult after what he's gone through because I know the one thing that Tres loves doing more than anything is playing cricket for England," Vaughan added.

"He's not ready at the minute and he's got to have a bit more time and hopefully that time will get him in the right frame of mind and get his body right to make sure he will play again.

"Unless you've actually been through a stress-related illness I don't think any of us can understand," Vaughan said of Trescothick's condition.

"I haven't been through it myself but I have every respect for the decision he's made and a lot of respect for the way he's coped with it over the last few months because it can't have been easy.

"It's not nice when a senior player can't play but what it does do is create opportunities. Alastair Cook (Trescothick's Test replacement who has scored six hundreds in his 19 Tests to date) is playing very well and we've got guys waiting in the wings who are playing well in the county games."

Somerset left-hander Trescothick, who has scored over 10,000 runs in all international cricket, said the time wasn't right for him to return to England duty. "It would have been a lovely situation to get back in this winter but I knew as the days went on and the way things were progressing that I wasn't quite ready for it yet.

"I've still got aspirations of getting back and I believe I will get back but it's not a simple road and I can only assess it as I play for Somerset."

International cricket's congested schedule has led to widespread fears about player burn-out and India captain Rahul Dravid, who said England would miss Trescothick's ability to "dominate attacks", added each country faced particular problems.

"Some years can be a bit tough, some years put a lot more pressure on you. Especially for countries like India, we don't have a set summer as such," Dravid told reporters at Trent Bridge.

"England are always here in the summer, Australia are always there in their summer and that makes a huge difference just from a captaincy point of view, of managing your resources, managing your players if you know exactly where you are going to be for four, five, six months of the year."