England's Test glory in New Zealand - the positives and negatives

England Test series win against New Zealand was by no means an illustration of first-class cricket. Both teams are undergoing big changes in personnel and the quality of cricket on display veered from excellent to below-par. Undoubtedly England have performed well to turn around an opening Test defeat by the Black Caps to win the three-Test series 2-1.

Michael Vaughan was the first to acknowledge the baby steps this England team are making after the win in Napier. "We're still not quite playing the game we can play and there's lots of improvement to be don,'' 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."

This is a fair assessment from the England captain and there are many positives to take from this tour. Ryan Sidebottom, the man of the series, has established himself as his country's No.1 bowler, with his hat-trick in Hamilton probably the moment of the series. Sidey has taken 50 wickets in his first full year in Test cricket and is now a crucial component of the England side.