Nasser Hussain has revealed he plans to step down as England captain after the 2003 World Cup in South Africa.

Despite being awarded an OBE in the Queen's New Year Honours list for services to cricket, the 33-year-old hopes to hand over the captaincy in 15 months time.

"It would complete a natural cycle," Hussain told The Sun.

"I don't want to stay in the job too long. The World Cup would be a good time to step down and let someone else take over.

"But, of course, I might get the axe before then if results go badly.

"I might not have the option of deciding when to resign the captaincy.

"If I do, I definitely won't be captain after the next World Cup."

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Hussain has been a revelation since taking over in 1999, leading England to four successive Test series victories over Zimbabwe, West Indies, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

And England have lost only nine of the 27 Tests he has captained.

Although he experienced the lows of successive series defeats to Australia and India, Hussain is widely regarded as one of England's most popular captains since Mike Brearley in the early 1980s.

But for the moment, Hussain is fully committed to helping England through a tough 2002 schedule.

"This is a big 15 months coming up, ending with an Ashes tour of Australia and the World Cup," he added.

"I intend doing everything this year, totally full-on, and then handing over to someone else."