London, Mar.10 : England cricket captain Michael Vaughan has admitted that his team, which is currently on a Test tour of New Zealand, is suffering a crisis of confidence after their 189-run defeat in the First Test.

"There is a lack of confidence in the dressing room at the moment. Getting bowled out for 110 is not acceptable. You wouldn't think Kevin Pietersen lacks confidence. But he is not playing as well as he can and New Zealand are bowling well to him," The Sun quoted Vaughan, as saying.

"Kev is a world-class player and I expect him to learn from this match and react in a very positive fashion. I expect all players to react like that. The good thing is that we play again in three days. But we have to play and express ourselves in a better fashion than we have in this game," he added.

Peter Moores, appointed last May as Duncan Fletcher's successor without anybody else being interviewed, has overseen successive Test series defeats against India and Sri Lanka.

Now England is 1-0 down in New Zealand having already lost the one-day series on this tour.

Vaughan insists his captaincy is the same, or maybe even better, than when he led England to the Ashes in 2005.

But after spending almost two years recovering from knee problems, many are asking whether, at 33, Vaughan can make his team a force once more.

He is desperately missing Andrew Flintoff and Marcus Trescothick.

ANI