Captain Michael Vaughan dedicated his twin centuries - which kept England on course for a seventh win in eight Tests this year - to his all-conquering team.

Vaughan entered the opener in a four-match npower series against the West Indians on the back of a torrid trot for the one-day side, which resulted in him compiling just 47 runs in five innings.

Such was his batting malaise that coach Duncan Fletcher was dispatched for some private tuition in Leeds in the interim between the failed NatWest Series and the Test commitments.

By the time the 29-year-old was celebrating his 13th Test ton this afternoon, an unbeaten 101, he was within minutes of a declaration which set Brian Lara's side an improbable 478 for victory - when stumps were drawn half-an-hour early due to bad light they had been reduced to 114 for three.

''I am delighted for the team because I felt I owed them a few runs,'' said Vaughan, who became only the third man after West Indian George Headley and Graham Gooch, 14 years ago, to register two centuries in a Test at Lord's.

''Since the one-day series I have just gone back to basics and worked really hard. ''I owe Duncan Fletcher for coming up to Yorkshire and spending a few days working with me on a few aspects of my game: the main thing I did was just hit a few balls in the nets.

''It is alright having rhythm in the nets, it is taking it into the game and a pressure situation which is important. Fortunately I took it out into the middle.''

Having risen to the number one spot in the world batting rankings on the back of his scintillating Ashes series two winters ago, Vaughan experienced a slump after inheriting the captaincy from Nasser Hussain.

Prior to his appointment, Vaughan averaged over 50, a statistic which slipped to 33 as captain.

''If you have such a run as captain you accept getting some criticism,'' he said. ''I am pretty level-headed and I said after the one-day series that five knocks did not make me a bad player. I always knew if I worked hard there was runs around the corner.

''It was nice just to feel the ball hitting the middle of the bat again and celebrating hundreds is something you dream of, especially here.''

England's victory bid will start today by trying to prise out Vaughan's opposite number Lara and first-innings centurion Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

''It is still a good track but if you put the ball in the right areas, chances will come,'' said Vaughan. ''If we can dislodge that partnership early we can get amongst their batting line-up and make sure we start the series in the best possible manner.''

If they can claim the seven wickets, England will take momentum into the second Test, which begins in Birmingham, on Thursday.

One man unlikely to be at Edgbaston, however, is Mark Butcher, who aggravated the thigh injury which threatened to keep him out of the current match.

In the end it was whiplash, incurred in a car accident last Monday, which prevented him adding to his run of 42 consecutive Test appearances and offered Robert Key the opportunity to stake his claim for a permanent place.

The 31-year-old was due to play for Surrey in their totesport League match against Warwickshire at Guildford in a bid to prove his fitness but felt discomfort in the area when lifting a box at his home yesterday.