Vaughan and Flintoff: Permanent and stand-in England captains

Fraser sympathises with stand-in captain Andrew Flintoff, who he says has "the boss (Vaughan) sticking his nose in every now and then."

He told BBC Radio Five Live: "Vaughan should have done his rehabilitation in England and then South Africa."

England are 2-0 down going into Thursday's third Ashes Test in Perth.

Vaughan remains England's first-choice captain while he recovers from a fourth knee operation.

But he has been unable to lead his team out in a Test for more than a year, while his last one-day international was in July 2005.

It's difficult to suddenly see the last captain appearing round the corner every now and again Angus Fraser

Flintoff was named in September as England captain for the Ashes campaign.

But in Brisbane, Adelaide and now Perth, Vaughan has taken part in practice sessions with other England squad players.

Former Middlesex seamer Fraser, who played 46 Tests between 1989 and 1988, believes this has been unhelpful.

Expanding on a point he made in The Independent newspaper, Fraser said: "I think it's been an unwelcome distraction.

606 DEBATE: Your reaction to Fraser's comments

"It's very difficult when you are the stand-in captain and you have the boss sticking his nose in every now and then and maybe having little phone calls here and there with the coach.

"The ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) are naive not to have seen this happening.

"Vaughan is a fantastic captain. He's done a brilliant job with England and everybody hopes he comes back to captain the side in the future.

I'm sure he will put in a world-class performer in this Test match hopefully Kevin Pietersen on Flintoff

"But it's difficult when somebody is trying to put his own stamp on the team to suddenly see the last captain appearing round the corner every now and again."

"I wouldn't be surprised if some of Flintoff's presence is slightly knocked because if Vaughan is in the same city and the same hotel people will look to see how he may have handled things."

But England batsman Kevin Pietersen says Vaughan's presence has not been distracting from a personal point of view.

"I don't like to talk about the team, I talk about myself but I don't find it distracting. I like having Vaughany around, I didn't mind it at all."

Flintoff has struggled with the bat in Australia, but Pietersen said: "It's a matter of time.