Captain Michael Vaughan led from the front with his 11th Test century as England escaped with a battling draw in the fourth and final Test against West Indies in St John's, Antigua to wrap up a 3-0 series victory.

Vaughan hit 140 while Marcus Trescothick, Mark Butcher and Nasser Hussain all made back-to-the-wall half-centuries as England, facing a 466-run first-innings deficit, reached 422 for five before the two sides agreed to a draw half an hour early.

England dominated the first three Tests to clinch their first series triumph in the Caribbean since 1968.

Vaughan's first century of the series steadied any nerves England may have had as they resumed on 145 without loss, still 321 behind and with West Indies looking for a consolation win after setting the pace throughout the match.

But captain Brian Lara, whose world record-breaking 400 not out was the inspiration for his team's mammoth first innings total of 751 for five, employed a surprisingly defensive field, taking the pressure off England.

"We had some great individual performances but...one of the things we learnt from the English is how to put a game together," Lara said.

"They played as a team for the whole five days all series."

Marcus Trescothick, at last finding some form, began the day on 74 but after two lovely cover drives to reach 88, he jabbed a mis-timed drive straight to Ramnaresh Sarwan at wide mid-off to give strike bowler Fidel Edwards the one wicket of the morning.

Trescothick and Vaughan put on 182 for the opening wicket.

Vaughan progressed from 61 overnight, surviving a big appeal for leg before wicket from Pedro Collins, who troubled him all morning, and a couple of streaky shots through the gully area.

With his century in sight, though, the England captain visibly tightened up, but after a risky single, Vaughan smashed a superb cover drive to reach three figures, greeting it with a punch of the air before the ball had reached the boundary.

With Lara off the field for almost an hour between lunch and tea, Sarwan took over and chose to bowl his occasional leg spin in tandem with part-time slow bowler Chris Gayle even though the new ball was due.

The move paid off partially when Vaughan was surprised by some extra bounce from Sarwan and Ridley Jacobs took a neat catch behind to make it 274 for two.

Vaughan faced 267 balls and batted for five-and-three-quarter hours, hitting 20 fours.

Butcher reached his fourth half-century of the series while Hussain passed 50 for the 33rd time in Tests, reaching the mark from just 77 balls.

Ryan Hinds gave West Indies hope of instigating a collapse when he had Butcher caught by Gayle at slip for 61 off his slow left-arm spin and then bowled Hussain round his legs for 56.

All rounder Andrew Flintoff, the first-innings centurion, then holed out to Lara at midwicket off a Sarwan full toss for 14 to make it 408 for five.

But Thorpe, who passed Dennis Compton to become England's 10th highest scorer in Tests, hit an unbeaten 23 to see England through.

The man-of-the-series award went to England strike bowler Steve Harmison, who took 23 wickets including a career-best burst of seven for 12 in the first Test.

"Michael Vaughan and his men really played well. Steve Harmison made a great name for himself in the Caribbean," Lara added.

Scoreboard:

West Indies first innings: 751-5 declared (B.Lara 400 not out, R.Jacobs 107 not out, R.Sarwan 90)

England first innings: 285 (A.Flintoff 102 not out, M.Butcher 52; P.Collins 4-76)

England second innings (overnight 145-0)
M.Trescothick c Sarwan b Edwards 88
M.Vaughan c Jacobs b Sarwan 140
M.Butcher c Gayle b Hinds 61
N.Hussain b Hinds 56
G.Thorpe not out 23
A.Flintoff c Lara b Sarwan 14
G.Jones not out 10

Extras (b-4 lb-7 w-3 nb-16) 30

Total (for five wickets, 137 overs) 422

Fall of wickets: 1-182, 2-274, 3-366, 4-387, 5-408.

Did not bat: G.Batty, M.Hoggard, S.Jones, S.Harmison.

Bowling: Best 16-1-57-0 (w-2), Edwards 20-2-81-1 (nb-8 w-1), Collymore 18-3-58-0, Powell 8-0-36-0, Hinds 38-8-83-2 (nb-2), Gayle 17-6-36-0 (nb-2), Sarwan 12-2-26-2, Collins 8-2-34-0 (nb-4)

Result: Match drawn

First Test: Kingston - England win by ten wickets.

Second Test: Port-of-Spain - England win by seven wickets

Third Test: Bridgetown - England win by eight wickets

Series: England won 3-0.