What will the Yorkshire batsman do after being overlooked for England's Ashes squad?

Will he carry on playing for Yorkshire in an attempt to resurrect his international career?

Will he carry on playing for Yorkshire in any case – a la Darren Gough in 2007-2008, who had no hope of resurrecting his international career but who simply wanted to carry on playing?

Will he accept the potential offer of a lucrative cheque from Sky to pontificate on the Ashes series that starts in 11 days' time?

Will he move into coaching?

Will he devote more energy to his various business pursuits?

Will he spend more time on his new art-balling project, where he apparently creates works of art by hitting, throwing and bowling a paint-covered cricket ball against a black canvas?

And so on.

There are more imponderables than you could shake a stick at as Vaughan considers his next career move.

The selectors' decision is known to have hurt him and it remains to be seen how England's most successful captain will react to the blow of being left out in the cold.

Will he perhaps decide that enough is enough?

According to Michael Atherton, The Times cricket correspondent and former England captain, Vaughan intends to keep donning his whites for a little while yet.

"The smoke signals emanating out of Sheffield last night were that he intends to play on, hoping publicly for a return to form and privately for injury and/or loss of form to befall those in possession," wrote Atherton on Tuesday, one day after the Ashes squad was announced.

Atherton is likely to know more than most, but it is surely not as simple as that.

For beyond the simple question of whether Vaughan wants to keep on playing is the no less pertinent question as to whether Yorkshire want to keep picking him.

After all, this is a man who has scored 147 runs at 21.00 in seven County Championship innings this season – comfortably the lowest average of all Yorkshire's top-order batsmen.

Vaughan's innings of 43 in the last game against Worcestershire was his highest first-class score for Yorkshire since June 2008.

He has not made a Championship century in his last 22 matches dating back to May 2002.

He has managed one half-century in his last 21 Championship innings dating back to July 2007.

In 15 of those innings he scored less than 25.

Since winning the Ashes, Vaughan has scored 747 runs in 20 Championship games at 25.75.

A man who has consistently talked of putting pressure on the England selectors by scoring 150s has struggled to make 50s, let alone three-figure contributions.

No matter how good Vaughan looks at the crease, or how well he is batting in the nets, those statistics tell a sobering story.

Does he still justify a place in Yorkshire's Championship side? Especially with the likes of 21-year old Adam Lyth waiting in the wings? If Lyth, or even Joe Sayers or Andrew Gale for that matter, possessed Vaughan's recent statistics, you would expect doubts to be raised over their inclusion.

Surely even Vaughan himself would agree it should not be one rule for one and one rule for another, no matter how well one has performed over the years.

Vaughan was one of the finest batsmen in England's recent history, a glorious stylist still capable, on his day, of some memorable moments. But just as cricket was good to him in that halcyon summer of 2005, so it has possibly turned against him now.

He will be out of contract at the end of the summer and may not relish another season on the county treadmill with little prospect of an international recall. However, if he could rediscover his form, he could yet play on for a good while longer and continue to serve his county with distinction.

So, which way will he go? Only Vaughan knows the answer but one thing is clear: he owes it to himself and to Yorkshire to choose his road wisely.