England show signs of improvement |
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Thursday March 27, 02:15 AM
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By Greg Stutchbury
NAPIER, New Zealand (Reuters) - England captain Michael Vaughan will return home to prepare for his side's series against New Zealand and then South Africa with the knowledge his side are showing signs of improvement.
England fought back from a 1-0 deficit against New Zealand to seal the deciding third test with a 121-run victory just after lunch on the fifth day on Wednesday.
"Hamilton was a huge disappointment, but we have shown when we come out and play we can be a good side," Vaughan told reporters. "It was important that the team got back to winning ways.
"When you go 1-0 down you are asking yourself a lot of questions, but we have shown a huge amount of character and a lot of will to go out there and win and that has been most important.
"There is work to be done, but don't underestimate what we have done here. We were 1-0 down and we hadn't won a series for a long while.
"We fought very hard and have beaten a New Zealand team that is quite difficult to beat at home.
"We know there is a lot of work to be done but we're certainly moving in the right direction."
Despite his positive outlook, England's top-order batsmen only fired in the third test in Napier, with Kevin Pietersen's 129 his first score above 50 since last August, while Andrew Strauss had not scored a century in his 30 previous innings before he made 177 at McLean Park.
The key to the series was Ryan Sidebottom's 24 wickets at 17.08. Time and again, the left-armer charged in and took bags of wickets at crucial occasions, none more so than his seven for 47 in New Zealand's first innings in Napier.
The hosts were crusing at 103 for one at lunch on the second day before Sidebottom captured five for 33 in an unchanged 13 overs to give his side the 85-run lead they needed to exploit on the ideal batting wicket.
"He's a good old honest pro. He just gets on with it," said Vaughan. "He swings it, he bowls at a decent pace and those are quite good attributes to be a bowler.
"He also has the angles of left arm over and around the wicket which is a huge advantage and he is just bowling well.
"He has got 50 odd wickets in a year of test match cricket and I hope he gets another 50 in the next year."
Stuart Broad also emerged as a potential international quality bowling all-rounder, scoring 42 and 31 not out in the Napier test and showing signs of being able to cement a position at number eight, something that did not escape his captain's notice.
"Stuart Broad is a massive talent," said Vaughan.
"He is very easy to captain and for a 21-year-old you don't get that opportunity often.
"You don't have to speak to him much, just a little word in his ear, every now and then, but he really does seem to know what he is doing. He fields well and bats.
"I expect him to be around the England team for the future."
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