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Cricket

Vaughan urges caution after New Zealand series win

26/03/2008

Captain Michael Vaughan has urged England's players not to get carried away after earning a first away series victory for over three years.

The tourists secured a convincing 121-run win over New Zealand in Napier earlier today, coming back from 1-0 down to win the three-match series 2-1 thanks to superb bowling performances from Monty Panesar, Stuart Broad and Ryan Sidebottom.

But despite the two most recent matches representing a marked improvement from a disappointing showing in the opening Test defeat, Vaughan believes there is still work to do.

"We're still not quite playing the game we can play and there's lots of improvement to be done," he said.

"We shouldn't get too excited because we've got lots to do before we can be confident of taking on the big boys.

"But we're delighted to nick the series, we deserved it and there were signs that we can be a hard team to beat."

Vaughan said before the series started that it would be the beginning of the team's preparations in the run up to the next Ashes series against the world's top-ranked team Australia in the summer of 2009.

And several of the players to shine on this tour, particularly a relatively inexperienced attack and man of the series Sidebottom, have apparently muscled into contention for the Test team this year ahead of more established names.

"Ryan has bowled exceptionally well throughout the series," Vaughan continued.

"He's now got 50 Test wickets in a year and I'm sure there are many more to come.

He continued: "Stuart Broad also showed he has something special.

"He has tremendous character and really impressed me with how he bowled on a flat wicket yesterday. For a 21-year-old, he's a decent package."