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Vaughan happy to answer critics

18/05/2008

England captain Michael Vaughan says his century at Lord's is "even more special" as it comes after a period of poor form.

The Yorkshire player struggled with the bat on the recent tour of New Zealand and had not made much of an impression for Yorkshire in his time on the county circuit.

But today his 106 – his sixth century at Lord's - showed Vaughan at his fluent best, with the England captain using his orthodox batting technique to full effect for 11 boundaries.

"It's a ground that I enjoy batting bat at. It's always nice to come back to a ground when you've been going through a bit of a trot to come to a ground where you've had so much success," Vaughan told Cricket on Five.

"I went out to the middle this morning and just felt that the rhythm and the balance are there.

Vaughan said he was especially pleased with his second half-century, which came off 79 balls.

"The second 50 was more how I like to play - get in and try and dominate and dictate the play to the opposition. It was nice to score the second 50 faster," he added.

England have a mere two-run lead over New Zealand in the second innings, with most pundits predicting a draw in the rain-affected first Test of the summer.

Vaughan is still hopeful Ryan Sidebottom and co could help win the Test for the home side, however.

"We're going to have to do something special tomorrow but we've certainly got the bowlers. We'll have to have those periods where you… get a few early wickets and you never know," he finished.