Michael Vaughan praised England's character after they completed an impressive turnaround to claim a 121-run victory in the final Test against New Zealand and seal their first overseas series triumph in three years. But the captain also warned that his side are still a long way off challenging the best teams in the world.

Vaughan singled out England's resilience to come from behind after losing the first Test in Hamilton to secure the series shortly after lunch on the final day at McLean Park. "It's been a really hard-fought series and we've had to show an immense amount of character to come back from being 1-0 down," he said. "A lot of the individual players have had to show a lot of strength and character as well.

"The one thing you do need at this level is character so that's been very impressive but there are areas we need to improve and as the games have gone on we have improved each time. But we have to improve again at Lord's and the game after and the game after if we want to really set our sights on being on top of the world, which is a long way off at the moment."

Vaughan stressed: "There is still work to be done, but people should not under-estimate what we've achieved here. We were 1-0 down, we haven't won a series for a long while and we've fought very hard and beaten a New Zealand team which is quite difficult to beat at home.

"We know there's a lot of work to be done but we're certainly moving in the right direction and every game we've played a little bit better. Starting in May against New Zealand at Lord's I hope we can improve and play even better than we have done here."

Ryan Sidebottom claimed the man-of-the-match and man-of-the series awards after finishing with 24 wickets in the series to take his tally since being recalled last summer to 53 wickets in just 12 Tests. "He's just a good old, [an] honest pro," Vaughan said. "He does his work. he does his bowling and just gets on with it. He swings the ball, puts the ball in the right area and bowls at a decent pace and they are quite good attributes to become a good bowler.

"He's obviously got the angles by being a left-armer of over and round the wicket, which is a huge advantage, and he's just bowling well. He's come a long way in a year and he's leading the attack well. He bowls that first over and very rarely is off the mark.

"You ask any opening batsman and you like to have a few sighters and you like a couple of freebies and Ryan Sidebottom never, ever gives them that easy first over which is important."

Daniel Vettori also singled out Sidebottom as being the key factor in England's triumph after his side failed to take opportunities which fell to them in the final two Tests.

"You have to sit back and admire the way Sidebottom bowled throughout the series," the New Zealand captain said. "He was the difference between the two teams and every time they needed a lift he came in and gave it to them. Every time they needed a couple of wickets he came in and gave it to them. His length of spells, his consistency, the pace, the swing, everything he did throughout the series set himself up as a real class bowler.

"I'm disappointed but I can still appreciate some extremely good bowling on his part that set England up for these last two victories."

Vettori added: "It was an extremely competitive Test series the whole way through but England grabbed vital chances in the second and third Test matches and probably, in the end, were deserved winners - it's bitterly disappointing from where we were at Hamilton."