Greater Tests to Come for Vaughan's England

There were mixed emotions at Trent Bridge. Sixteen thousand fans, the vast majority of them English, were craving a Test victory, but also willing the Kiwis to hang on: for Jacob Oram to smash another boundary and for the game to be prolonged.

At last we had a sublime summer's day and a true pitch. And yet, within an hour, the two sides were shaking hands, with England the victors by an innings and nine runs. The crowd, with little else planned, stayed on for the closing ceremonies.

James Anderson was named man of the match ahead of Kevin Pietersen - meaning the closing ceremony, which always includes an interview on the podium the winning player, was shorter than it might have been. Andrew Strauss was England's man of the series. There was something appropriate about that: a low-key, worthy winner for a low-key, worthy series.

There must have been some head-scratching among the New Zealand side when Daniel Vettori received their man of the series accolade. He had a poor Trent Bridge Test, the burdens of captaincy starting to weight heavy, but there was a dearth of candidates - another indication of the frailty of the Kiwi side.

New Zealand have had their moments in this series, but they lost all the key ones. Yesterday, it was just a matter of how long they could stretch out proceedings. Not long, it proved.

Once Gareth Hopkins had edged a defensive push from a slanted delivery from Ryan Sidebottom, there were few obstacles for Michael Vaughan and his team. Jacob Oram did crack some thunderous boundaries, especially when Stuart Broad began propelling bouncers. His 39-ball half-century was cheered to the skies by a shirt-sleeved crowd.

But no one could stay with Oram. A preoccupied Vettori edged to backward point, Kyle Mills and Iain O'Brien to the slip cordon. Suddenly Sidebottom, who, in this match had been the least impressive of England seamers, had six wickets to his name. It was fitting that Anderson should finish it all off, albeit with the cheapest scalp in international cricket, Chris Martin.

Within half an hour the team was spraying Michael Vaughan with bottles of champagne - they must be getting paid too much - and starting to contemplate upcoming fixtures. Suddenly they all seem rather keen to get involved in the county game. The domestic Twenty20 starts on Wednesday and they are queuing up for the ride. Maybe even Vaughan will be permitted to make his Yorkshire Twenty20 debut.

England had won the right to celebrate, but the victorious players may get tired of reading that this series victory does not mean too much - even that judgment remains fair. The Kiwis - in Test cricket as opposed to one-day internationals where they are a much tougher proposition- are simply not very good.

Real celebrations, and maybe even the odd spillage of champagne, will genuinely be in order if England can win their next Test series against South Africa later in the summer.