PETER Moores has underlined the importance of Michael Vaughan's leadership to England's developing Test side if they are to challenge Australia for the Ashes next summer.

Vaughan's place in the side has come under scrutiny in recent months after averaging only 20 during the Test series in New Zealand.

But he answered his critics in style with a defiant 106 to help England claim a narrow first innings lead in the drawn opening Test against New Zealand at Lord's to equal Graham Gooch's record of six Test centuries at the home of cricket.

His innings almost certainly cements his place and coach Moores believes Vaughan's presence will be crucial to the development of the side leading up to the Ashes.

To have a mature captain is really important, especially when you're developing as a team,'' Moores said.

We've had quite a lot of changes to the one-day and Test team so to have someone like Michael at the helm has been really important.

We've got an inexperienced set of bowlers and that is a key factor that you've got someone like Michael Vaughan to marshal around and give his experience to that unit.

I think he's naturally calm and that is one of his strengths.

It's a skill to be able to always give off that calmness and I think that's a sign of a good leader.

When the pressure's on, anybody who can make sure they pass none of that onto their team is a good leader and that's been one of Michael's strengths.'' Vaughan's captaincy record has never been disputed. He was the first captain to win the Ashes for 18 years when he guided England to victory in 2005, but his recent form has undermined his authority.

Returning to county cricket at the start of the summer in search of runs, Vaughan scored only 135 runs in seven innings for Yorkshire but worked hard at the National Performance Centre in Loughborough before the opening Test to fine-tune his technique.

He knows he's a good player and he's always got trust in his ability and it's always nice for him to come to Lord's where he's got hundreds before at the start of the series,'' Moores added.

I think he was under pressure mostly from himself. As a player you want to play well for your country.

He's worked very hard and he came out here and wanted to show everybody what sort of Test match player he is. We've developed as a team and he wants to be at the front of that team and I think he did that at Lord's.'' Moores has no doubts that Vaughan can contribute further centuries during the rest of the summer, adding: As players mature, batsmen especially, they tend to have their best time towards the last third of their career.

The way Michael has been playing in the nets and the way he has played over the year he's hitting the ball really well but you don't want to keep telling people that, you want to go and deliver in the middle and it's nice when you get the score on the board.'' Vaughan enjoyed a close relationship with previous coach Duncan Fletcher, but his time spent with Moores has been restricted over the winter because of England's split-captaincy system.

Because of England's one-day commitments in Sri Lanka and in the World Twenty20 tournament in South Africa, which was led by one-day captain Paul Collingwood, the pair did not work together until the Test tour to Sri Lanka in December.

They were kept apart again until March this year when the Test series began in New Zealand but now face the majority of the summer together for the current series and the four-Test series against South Africa to follow.

It's nice that we've gone from Test matches in New Zealand straight into Test cricket at the start of our summer for our relationship,'' Moores said.

It means we've had a bit more time together to try and develop the team and get them to where we want them to be because after this series we know we've got another tough series coming up against South Africa later this summer.''