He had to go after that shambolic performance by England against South Africa on Tuesday.
I and millions of England cricket fans were utterly humiliated by the pathetic performance and decision-making by the team's management – ie Duncan Fletcher and skipper Michael Vaughan.
Fletcher's resignation was predictable and Vaughan's removal from office can't be far behind.
For all his 2005 Ashes success and improvement in England's Test match play over his eight years in charge, Fletcher seems to have lost the plot in the last six months.
But equally culpable has been Vaughan, who should not have been playing after being out of the first-class game for more than 12 months. His form was dreadful, but what else did you seriously expect?
He has also been strangely fallible as a captain.
Why on earth did not England open with Vaughan and Andrew Strausss – a left-hand and right hand combination – to unsettle South Africa's metronomic seamer Shaun Pollock. After all, Strauss is a regular opener and Ian Bell is not.
The collapse was pitiful – Andrew Flintoff is a shadow of his former self – and their total was inadequate.
But defending such a small, Vaughan should have opened with his best attacking bowler – ie Flintoff.
Instead he opted for James Anderson and Saj Mahmood, who went for 12 an over. Hopeless decision from a captain whose mind must have been elsewhere.
One last question. How did Saj Mahmood get in the World Cup squad ahead of Matthew Hoggard – England's most succesful seamer in the recent Ashes series.
Yet another decision to highlight the incompetence of Fletcher and Vaughan.