``I told Stewie to finish it off as quickly as he could. You don't think about personal milestones at such moments,'' said Atherton.

He added: ``The important thing was to finish the game that way. You don't want to hang about in those situations. When Stewie lofted a short ball over the top near the end, I told him, 'Don't worry about me'.''

Stewart himself said of those final moments: ``I didn't go out with the intention of robbing Athers of his century, but the ball was just there to be hit with the field up.

``Michael played out of his skin. He's one of the best opening batsmen in the world and his battle with Allan Donald - the world's best fast bowler with the new ball - was Test cricket at its very highest level.''

With the task half accomplished the previous night, Atherton had a few beers and went to bed early rather than watch the television highlights of his innings.

``There were a few butterflies when I went out again, but being within reach of a Test win is the best motivator of all.

``Now it's a well job done - and if that sounds a fairly cold analysis of my approach, that's what I'm paid to do.''

Atherton said of his confrontation with Donald: ``We played it hard, but afterwards we were the first to have a drink together.''

Stewart reckoned that winning the toss had been the major factor in England's victory. ``Some disagreed with my decision, but people who know a thing or two about the game realised it was the thing to do.''

The England captain's belief that the result would stimulate public interest in the final Headingley Test was borne out by the rush for tickets yesterday.

Yorkshire secretary David Ryder said: ``The response has been phenomenal. The phones have been ringing all day and I've had to help our booking staff to take orders because they've been overwhelmed.

``Last weekend the picture was pretty dismal, with very low interest. Now I think that in one day we'll have sold something like œ11,000-worth of tickets. England's win has worked a small miracle for us.''

The 12,000 attendance at Trent Bridge yesterday was the largest last-day crowd in many years, according to the England and Wales Cricket Board. It almost doubled Sunday's gate of 7,000 and brought gross attendance for the match to nearly 60,000.