Vaughan points the way forward

9 June 2008

England's victory owed much to Kevin Pietersen's superb first-innings century

Michael Vaughan challenged England to learn from their mistakes if they are to continue on their upward curve ahead of the visit of South Africa.

The England skipper saw his side romp to an innings-and-nine-run win over New Zealand in the third Test at Trent Bridge, claiming the last five wickets in little more than an hour on the fourth morning.

Vaughan praised the character of his side for engineering a comprehensive victory from a position of some peril - they were 86 for five shortly after lunch on the opening day - a feat they also managed in the previous Test at Old Trafford.

But he admitted he would rather there was no need for such fightbacks.

“It is a position we would like not to have been in but the partnership between Kevin Pietersen and Tim Ambrose set us up for a good score,” said Vaughan, referring to a sixth-wicket stand of 161.

“I’m encouraged by the way we’re getting out of them but I would like not to get into those positions.

“A sign of a good team is getting out of them but a sign of a really good team is not getting into them in the first place.

“Those are the areas we can improve but we are a young side developing.”

England raised their level of performance as the series against New Zealand went on, culminating in a thrillingly efficient display with the ball to dismiss New Zealand for 123 and 232 at Trent Bridge.

Daniel Vettori admitted New Zealand failed to perform consistently this series

“We have won four out of five now and in every one of those wins we have got better and better,” added Vaughan, part of the same side for the fifth Test in succession.

“You do tend to get better the more you play together and what pleases me most is that it has not been the same people doing it in every game.

“In every game every bowler has stuck their hands up at certain times and every batsman has got us through some tricky positions whether it be in New Zealand or over here.”

New Zealand, meanwhile, were left to rue their trend of relinquishing advantages.

“It sums up the state of affairs that we are in,” said New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori, whose team threw away a 1-0 lead to the lose the recent Test series on home soil against England.

“We are able to compete for a period of time but unable to compete for a whole five days.

“If you look back at the six Test matches, the only time we did that was in Hamilton and we won.

“Unfortunately every other time we haven’t been able to keep up with the pace of England. I suppose it is a lack of ability on our part and a lack of fortitude as well.”