MICHAEL Vaughan last night admitted that England's inability to bat first was becoming a cause for "serious concern" after his side slumped to a humiliating seven-wicket defeat to New Zealand at the Riverside.

England have now gone 22 games since they last triumphed when batting first - a World Cup win over Pakistan last March - and Vaughan has yet to win a one-day game as captain when his side is setting the total.

Given such damning statistics, the Yorkshire batsman could be forgiven for wanting to field first at every available opportunity.

But, with another crucial NatWest Series game against West Indies coming up tomorrow night, he has pledged to tackle England's problems head on in an attempt to break the hoodoo.

"We have to get used to doing it," said Vaughan, after England had been bowled out for a thoroughly inadequate 101.

"If we want to be a good one-day team we have to get better at batting first. We simply haven't been putting good enough totals on the board and we have to hold our hands up and admit that.

"But the only way we are going to get better is by getting out there and doing it. We will do what we feel is best to win the game, but we won't be afraid to bat first again."

England's dismal total meant a capacity Riverside crowd saw just 50.1 overs bowled and, excluding breaks, the North-East's only taste of international cricket this year was over in little more than three and a half hours.

That might have been an improvement on 2002's wash-out against India, but it still represented a disappointing return for the emotional and financial investment in the fixture.

"I feel sorry for the crowd," admitted Vaughan. "This a great ground and they've given us great support, but they've seen a game of cricket that's finished halfway through.

"We haven't given them a good game and that's a major disappointment on their behalf."

Batting was always going to be a testing proposition, with heavy cloud cover combining with a helpful Riverside pitch to provide the ideal environment for swing bowling.

New Zealander James Franklin exploited the conditions perfectly to post career-best figures of 5-42, but England's batsmen contributed to their own downfall with a succession of sloppy decisions and rash strokes.

"We felt that anything over 180 or 200 would have been competitive on that wicket," said Vaughan. "Especially with someone like Stephen Harmison in our team.

"But we can talk about batting orders and different personnel all we like - the bottom line is that, as a batting unit, we're simply not coming up with the goods at the moment.

"We've given away a few loose wickets. You've got to give Franklin some credit for the way in which he's bowled, but we've helped him out a bit as well.

"We've got to get to grips with making sure that we put a competitive total on the board. When it's not happening we've got to hold our hands up."

England would not have expected to be facing Franklin at the start of the summer, as he was only called into the New Zealand squad following injuries to Shane Bond, Chris Martin, Daryl Tuffey and Daniel Vettori.

The marketing student moved to England at the start of the summer in order to play some club cricket before heading off on a tour of Europe.

That trip is now on the backburner, with the 23-year-old rapidly establishing himself as an integral part of the Black Caps' plans.

"I came over to play a bit of cricket before I started travelling around," admitted Franklin. "I had a reasonable first-class season at home, but I certainly didn't expect any of this.

"It was just one of those days when it all went for me. I didn't actually feel like I was bowling that well, but the ball was moving and things just clicked."