E-Paper
Vaughan hails winning streak
England captain Michael Vaughan said his side was into the winning groove after beating New Zealand in the final Test to complete a sweep.
England captain Michael Vaughan said his side was into the winning groove after beating New Zealand by four wickets in the final Test to complete a 3-0 series clean sweep at Trent Bridge on Sunday.
England completed a first whitewash over a major Test side since overrunning the Kiwis 3-0 in 1978, scoring a record fourth innings total in a Trent Bridge Test of 284 in the process.
But Vaughan revealed he was always confident his players would achieve the record target.
"There's always a doubt when you chase 280-odd, but when you've got Graham Thorpe and 'Freddie' Flintoff coming in we firmly believed that we were just one partnership away from getting the total," said Vaughan.
"There was never a doubt in the dressing room that we couldn't go on and get that target. Whatever they got, we'd have a good go at chasing them down."
England, who claimed their previous Test series 3-0 in the Caribbean, have now won six out of their last seven Tests and Vaughan said: "We're in a winning habit. When you get in a winning habit, whatever situation you get in you still believe you can win it.
"That comes from winning and the dressing room at the minute is a very confident one."
Man-of the match Thorpe steered England to victory with an assured 104 not out. But it was not all plain sailing, the Surrey left-hander coming in with England struggling at 46 for three.
Thorpe's 14th Test century was his first at Trent Bridge since scoring 114 not out against Australia on his debut in 1993.
The 34-year-old hit the winning runs after forging a 70 partnership from 84 balls with spinner Ashley Giles.
"Graham Thorpe is experienced, he's played 90-odd Test matches and that's a great thing for a team to have, a guy of that experience in the middle of the innings," Vaughan said.
"The way he controlled and played the innings was what he's done throughout his career."
Giles, meanwhile, responded to criticism of his recent defensive bowling with a second innings haul of four for 46, his best Test return in England.
He also weighed in with the bat making 45 not out in the first innings before his unbeaten 36 helped calm England's nerves.
"I'm also delighted for Ashley Giles to come in and be there at the end," Vaughan said.
"He's had a bit of stick of late but he showed his character to produce that kind of performance.
"He played well in the first innings and he got six wickets in the match. He had a fantastic game and showed a hell of a lot of character."
New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming insisted the 3-0 series scoreline did not tell the true tale of his side's performances.
"It was nowhere near a drubbing and day four of our Test matches have told the story. At Lord's we were ahead, but at the business end of the Test able we weren't able to capitalise on the advantage we had.
"It probably indicates the way the series has gone. It has been very close and at times we have dominated the Test matches but have just not been able to get across the line and this is probably another example.
"Our resources were pretty thin and it's a pretty disappointing way to finish the series," said Fleming, whose squad was severely affected by injuries.
"England's ability to come back strong with their star players. Harmison was one, Flintoff was another, they did very, very well and then the bowling was down to old heads Thorpe and Hussain. We were always short."
