ST JOHN'S, Antigua, (Reuters) - England captain Michael Vaughan and his West Indies counterpart Brian Lara were in complete agreement on the reason for England's first series victory in the Caribbean for 36 years. Teamwork.
While England dug themselves out of difficult situations in each Test, West Indies' batting -- with the exception of Lara's record-breaking 400 here -- failed miserably and allowed the touring side to claim a 3-0 victory in the four-match series.
In both the first and second Tests, England lost their first two wickets cheaply, but strong partnerships between Mark Butcher and Nasser Hussain and superb support from Graham Thorpe helped them turn the innings around.
``It was always going to be a tough series, there's not a great deal between the two sides,'' Vaughan said.
``The difference was that we managed to get ourselves out of a couple of difficult situations and that won us matches.
``Every individual played well but all the guys, even the ones who didn't play were important. The whole squad deserves a lot of credit. There were some outstanding individual performances but it was a great team effort.''
``To win like this in the West Indies is a fantastic achievement.''
LESSONS LEARNED
Lara said West Indies needed to learn from England if they are to improve.
``We had a few great individual performances but we couldn't put it together as a team,'' he said.
``I think that's one thing we learnt from the English - they played as a team for the whole five days all series.''
West Indies' collapse to 47 all out in the first Test in Jamaica set the tone for the series, with England's four frontline bowlers each earning five-wicket hauls and three of England's top six averaging 50 or more with the bat.
``You look at England, their bowlers bowled well and their batters made runs when they needed to,'' Lara said.
``We had young Devon Smith (who scored 108) in the first Test in Jamaica, and Ridley Jacobs, making lots of runs, but we need to improve in areas of the game.''
While congratulating England on their victory, Lara also had a word of consolation for his bowlers -- the one shining light for West Indies throughout the series.
``I must congratulate our bowlers. Tino Best, Corey Collymore, Pedro Collins and Fidel Edwards. They ran in hard and never gave up trying.''
``I think we'll learn from this. We can see from England that if you put in the hard work you get the rewards.''