Captain in Comfort Zone at Home From Home

Michael Vaughan spoke with relief last night about his home away from home after putting a scratchy winter behind him to score his 18th Test hundred and his sixth in 11 games at Lord's.

"It's always nice to come to a ground where you've had so much success," he said after ending a sequence of one half-century in eight innings with a classy 106. "You turn up and feel very comfortable. As soon as you walk out into the middle it just feels like home. As long as I could keep my balance and stay disciplined for the first 30 runs, from there on in I always felt there was a hundred for the taking.

"People talk about form a lot. I felt I was in very good form in terms of rhythm but not in terms of runs scored. Some people find that very hard to understand, but inside yourself that's the most important thing. I was very relaxed."

Vaughan, who has now scored Test hundreds against the eight sides he has played against - only Zimbabwe have escaped him - admitted it was going to take something "special" to force a last-day win over a New Zealand side with all 10 second-innings wickets still intact. But without his efforts, England might now be in a spot of bother.

Daniel Vettori, who took five for 69 to become the second New Zealander after Sir Richard Hadlee to move to 250 Test wickets, was delighted with his side's fightback but full of praise for Vaughan's innings. "I know there's been some talk of pressure on him but he's a very good cricketer. Everyone can go through a form slump but today he proved what a quality player he is. He held the innings together and manoeuvred the tail well. He didn't panic."