Vaughan concerned by England batting

Michael Vaughan admitted that England's batting form, or lack of it, had become a serious concern after they were shot out for 147 and 101 in successive matches of the NatWest Series. The latest reverse, a seven-wicket thrashing by New Zealand, meant that England stayed rooted to the bottom of the table, with bleak prospects of making the July 10 final.

Vaughan was in no mood to gloss over the display afterwards. "You get bowled out for 147 and then 101. It's not good enough, especially on a wicket when 180-200 would have been a real competitive total with the likes of Stephen Harmison in your team," he said. "You've just got to hold your hands up and say as a group we are not playing well enough at the minute."

England have missed the big-hitting contributions of Andrew Flintoff - out for the entire series with an ankle injury - but Vaughan suggested that he wouldn't be looking for excuses. "You can talk batting orders, different personnel, but the be-all and end-all is the eleven in the team aren't batting well enough as a unit to give our bowlers enough chance to win a game of cricket when we are batting first."

James Franklin, the left-arm swing bowler, devastated England with career-best figures of 5 for 42 and though Vaughan praised him - "You've got to give Franklin a bit of credit for the way he swung it" - he suggested that it was a lack of application from the batsmen, rather than the toss, which had decided the game. "I'd have batted first today if we'd won the toss because we have to get used to doing it," he said. "If you want to be a good team, you have to get used to doing both, whether you are chasing or setting totals."

England now need to win two of their remaining three matches to reach the final, They meet West Indies in another day-night match at Headingley on Thursday, and Vaughan, for one, was relieved that there was an immediate opportunity to turn things around after the team was booed off by a disappointed Chester-le-Street crowd on Tuesday.

"That's the one positive, that we're back on the horse quickly to put things right," he said. "When you play well, as we have done in the Tests, you take all the praise and when you play badly as one-day team, as we have, you are going to have to take criticism."