Liam Plunkett took three wickets at the Gabba to delight Vaughan

"We know we've got a lot of improvement to make in the one-day game," he said after the 14-run victory in Brisbane.

"But full credit to the team for the way we've responded in the last week. Five days ago no-one gave us a chance of getting into the final.

"The way we played was patchy, we were a bit erratic, but we've got fighting spirit and a bit of momentum going."

England totalled 270-7 in Brisbane thanks mainly to Paul Collingwood (106) and Andrew Strauss (55) who put on 103.

The duo had struggled for runs recently, and Collingwood had been particularly below-par since his double hundred in the second Test against Australia in December.

"We got off to an average start but the Collingwood and Strauss partnership was crucial to give us that base to explode at the end," Vaughan said.

"They've had a long tour and will be the first to admit that over the past few weeks they haven't been in the best of form.

"Colly will be a happy man, he's had a tough few weeks but he played beautifully, just the kind of innings we've seen him play in one-day cricket for a number years."

Everybody goes through drops in form and I'm just thankful it came good Paul Collingwood

The Kiwis got off to a flying start but, despite captain Stephen Fleming's 106, finished short in the end.

Vaughan added: "We didn't hit them very hard with the new ball but we never felt we were going to lose that game in the middle period when we got a couple of wickets.

"The toss was a bit to our advantage, it nipped around a bit but at 60-0 after seven or eight overs a lot of people would have said we'd blown our chance.

"But the boys kept fighting and kept their nerve, which is crucial in one-day cricket."

Collingwood said: "It's been a tough long tour but we wanted to finish off on a high and put in the performances we have in the last two games because we have a World Cup coming up.

"We haven't played the cricket we wanted to early in this series but we're starting to get it right now.

"Everybody goes through drops in form and it's been hard to get it back but I'm just thankful it came good."