By Christopher Martin-Jenkins
England (230) lead South Africa (9-0) by 221 runs
IT WAS the performances of the other England batsmen, as much as Mark Butcher's maiden Test hundred itself, which told how well he batted on a typically uneven Headingley pitch yesterday. Without him, a compelling and fluctuating opening day of the final and decisive Test would have belonged entirely to the South African bowlers.
At 181 for three, England must have been quietly congratulating themselves on picking their leg spinner, winning the toss and batting first. At 230 all out on a pitch showing increasing signs of awkward and unpredictable bounce, they knew that they had probably got it wrong. Alan Mullally, left out of the 12 for the second time running, would have been more feared in the prevailing conditions than Ian Salisbury but this may be one of those pitches on which no batsman can be sure he is in against any bowler at any time.
Butcher's was the second of the five wickets which fell to Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini and Allan Donald in 11 overs of the evening session while only 19 runs were added. Dominic Cork, reacting with spirit to a nasty hit close to his left elbow from a ball which lifted off a length before he had scored, boosted a meagre total with some natural pulling and driving but the eventual total must be 50 short of par for the side batting first.
The South African openers survived the last four overs of a day which started quietly and ended dramatically. Cork, his elbow wrapped in ice prior to a precautionary X-ray, did not take the field. England, not without some misfortune, lost their last seven wickets for 49 in 16 overs. Sadly, replays showed that two men, Mark Ramprakash and Andrew Flintoff, were given out when they should not have been.
Butcher's outstanding innings and Cork's breezy counter-attack excepted, this was still a weak England batting performance and when Graeme Hick was required to bat with authority in the crisis which suddenly developed, he failed abjectly, taking 19 balls to get off the mark before forcing the excellent Ntini in the air to cover point.
It was a soft dismissal in a performance typical of those on the four previous occasions during England's 12-year run without a win in a five-match series when they have started the final match level. Three times in these circumstances, they were bowled out cheaply in the first innings, and three times they lost. Against the West Indies in 1991, they managed 260; against Pakistan in 1992, only 207; against South Africa in Cape Town in the final game of the last series, 153.
The exception was the last Test of the 1995 series against the West Indies when the batsmen shone with 454, but the bowlers could not follow suit and the match was drawn. There will be no draw this time, so England must bowl accurately today and the edges must stick if they are to keep themselves in the game. Equally, the South Africans know that a solid batting performance and a significant first-innings lead would be a prelude to victory.
The history of many a past Test on this sort of Headingley pitch suggests that it will not be easy for them, but by preferring Brian McMillan to Pat Symcox, they have extended their already long batting order and it may prove a shrewd piece of thinking. His impact as a bowler was negligible yesterday but he held a fine, high slips catch.
Butcher spoke last night of ``demons'' in the pitch and to bat for long on it, players have to be prepared to graft. Six England batsmen fell to attacking strokes yesterday, most of them undone by the bounce rather than lateral movement. Only Nasser Hussain and Flintoff of the top seven batsmen were out playing defensively.
Butcher must have felt by the close like someone who has won a small fortune, only to find that the girl on which he had hoped to lavish it has left him. He played with such excellent judgment, so straight and with such precise timing that he had scored 65 per cent of the runs from the bat when he got an inside edge to an inswinger, looking for his 18th four.
It was between lunch and tea that he really blossomed, making 56 out of the 84 added, with 10 boundaries, after England had lunched early at 63 for one. The only shower of a blustery day on which the wind briefly reached gale force followed soon after Mike Atherton, having played himself in, was caught at second slip from a thick edge, driving at Ntini.
Butcher played and missed occasionally on the way to 37 before lunch and when 24, a ball which bounced quickly from Pollock lobbed off the splice only an inch or two in front of the diving Gary Kirsten in the gully. But Donald's attempt to get him out by bowling round the wicket failed and he drove and cut brilliantly in the afternoon, getting the better of Donald and taking 14 off an over by Jacques Kallis.
He lost two more partners in the middle session. Hussain, having just played a glorious off-drive, was surprised by the bounce of a ball from Pollock which brushed the thumb of his bottom hand and Stewart, pegged back by defensive bowling after hitting three fours in one Ntini over, was superbly caught from an edged drive which flew towards Kallis's throat at second slip.
Ramprakash batted much as he had against the West Indies in his first Test here seven long years ago. He resisted but he could not dominate, his timing never the equal of Butcher's, but the manner of his dismissal was unfortunate once more as he got a bottom edge to a cut and Mark Boucher, unwittingly no doubt, claimed a catch which a magnified replay showed had bounced a fraction before his gloves.
Butcher's dismissal, after 318 minutes, was followed by three more in four overs. For the wicket of Flintoff, given out caught at short leg off his pad, the blame lay with bowler and fielder, not with the umpire. For those of Hick and Salisbury, it was a case of extra bounce and poor technique. Darren Gough chased a wide ball and Angus Fraser edged to third slip. South Africa had saved the day and spoiled Mark Butcher's.
Day 2: Fraser's run of high fives continues
Christopher Martin-Jenkins
ANGUS FRASER left for the West Indies in January as a reserve bowler in England's prospective Test team, picked partly so that he could guide the younger bowlers in the party in the nets and off the field. Eight months later he has taken 48 wickets in 10 Test matches with five analyses of five or more wickets, three of them in South Africa's last three innings, writes Christopher Martin-Jenkins.
The latest example came yesterday on the eve of his 33rd birthday, in a match as rich in drama and studded with human folly as any Shakespeare tragedy. It has enabled England to overcome an extraordinary quarter of an hour during which they dropped three catches in 22 balls.
Hansie Cronje was the beneficiary of the first and easiest of the catches when he had made only 20 but his was still an innings of unyielding dedication which enabled South Africa to gain a first-innings lead of 22. It was reduced to 20 in the last over of the day by Mike Atherton and Mark Butcher.
The promise of sunshine today and the fact that South Africa must combat what seems bound to be increasingly uneven bounce in the fourth innings gives England a slight but significant advantage in the match which will decide the rubber.
To be sure of a win from which so much might flow they may need someone to play the sort of high-quality innings supplied by Butcher in the first innings and by Graham Gooch against the West Indies in a similarly tight and gripping contest here seven years ago; and they will surely need to produce a more consistent fielding performance than they did during another highly-charged second day. But the bowlers did well. Darren Gough leading the attack well and Fraser having the luck which Dominic Cork, on his own 27th birthday yesterday, emphatically did not.
Cork had a wayward start, conceding 25 from five overs in two short morning spells from both ends, but he swung the ball dangerously in the still warmth of a muggy afternoon and his figures tell nothing of the amount of times he narrowly beat the outside edge or the three occasions when he found it, only for Nasser Hussain, at third slip, to drop Cronje, Graeme Hick, at second, to miss Jonty Rhodes and Alec Stewart, diving right to a low and very difficult chance, to give Cronje another life at 32.
Fraser, by contrast, wrung three leg before decisions from umpire Javed Akhtar. He can look back on an amazing personal renaissance since the selectors reinstated him as an England bowler after Ray Illingworth had concluded two years before that he had lost his former zip. Fraser, more than anyone else, enabled England to compete in matches like the two in Port of Spain and the last two of the current series, which have made this something of a vintage year for close finishes.
A vintage year for Fraser himself, certainly. His rhythm is good, his confidence as high as his action, the little breaks are going his way and he remains wonderfully accurate. For him the Yellow Pages speedster, which has offered such an interesting estimate of the speed of every bowler during this series, hardly matters. Batsmen do not fear him as they might Gough, regularly some 10mph faster; but he gets bounce, gives them nothing and gets them out.
The South Africans, having lost Gary Kirsten to another questionable lbw decision in the fourth over yesterday, and Allan Donald towards the end of the day to one which would have been plumb had the ball not hit his inside edge, will come out with a vengeance today. The strategy, if such it was, of letting the strokeplayers blaze away around anchoring innings by Cronje and Jacques Kallis, worked well up to a point, but they had their own mini-collapse, losing their last four wickets for 15 runs in the space of four overs with the second new ball, three of them to Fraser from the Kirkstall Lane End.
He had an afternoon spell up the slope, too, but it was down it that he trapped Gary Kirsten between the creases in the fourth over of the day, appealing successfully though Kirsten may have got an inside edge, the ball might have pitched outside the leg stump and might also have gone over the stumps. A lawyer failing to persuade a jury that all that amounted to reasonable doubt would consider retirement.
Gerry Liebenberg struggled to 21 before Hick held him at second slip with his 65th catch for England (a fair few of them here) but Daryll Cullinan hit four fours in 29 balls before slashing in vain at the second ball of Gough's second morning spell, so at lunch the game was nicely balanced; South Africa 88 for three.
Cronje wasted no genuine opportunity to off-drive, the stroke which brought him the vast majority of his runs, and Kallis's judgment was equally good during a partnership of 47 which was beginning to pose a serious threat when Kallis dragged a pull towards midwicket, where Mark Ramprakash dived to bring off a wonderful right-handed catch as the ball was curving out of his reach.
It was inspirational but England, despite Alec Stewart's warning that they must not get too excited, now did so. The two dropped catches were the result of untypical snatching at the ball by Hussain and Hick and, in between, Ramprakash was surprised by the pace of a pull by Jonty Rhodes to square leg and missed the catch over his head.
Rhodes played with daring panache for his 32 off 39 balls and there was much English relief when he edged Gough to Stewart before tea and walked without even looking back to see if the catch had been taken.
By contrast, Brian McMillan tried to build an innings but he is not the batsman he was and he has had too little batting practice on the tour - four first-class innings and 58 runs - to play with much confidence and after nine overs of struggle, against Cork in particular, he scooped to mid-on.
Cronje's lbw, well forward but to a dead straight ball, was the start of the collapse against the second new ball which left England with their small advantage. A hard-working day had come right for them in the end.
Day 3: Hussain muzzles S Africa as England seize initiative
By Scyld Berry
England (230 & 206-4) lead South Africa (252) by 184 runs
WHEN England first played a Test against South Africa at Headingley, and narrowly defeated them in a low-scoring match, England match-winner Colin Blythe was so stressed by the end that the story has it that he suffered a nervous breakdown shortly afterwards. It would be perfectly understandable if the effect on several players of this deciding Test were similar.
Already it can be rated along with that match of 1907 as one of the greatest Test matches England have played. Not great in overall quality, perhaps, though England's shot-selection in their second innings was a vast improvement on their first, and admirably disciplined; but great in its twisting and turning, its closeness and its tension.
Both sides have had to walk the high wire knowing that any slip could spoil the work of months. The only certainty yesterday was the high dramatic content, as England's forte was pitted against South Africa's, and every English single was applauded, and every ball passing the bat prompted ooohs and inhalations from the congregation on the shabby terraces.
By teatime England held the advantage, but at the resumption the pegging was level, just as it had been through the two previous days, but only until the first ball was delivered. It was as accurate as an opening delivery from Curtly Ambrose, and like several of those in the past, seamed in and pinned Mike Atherton on the back foot.
It was only after the replays had detected an inside edge that the reason for the sardonic smile on the departing batsman was apparent. It was another mistake by the rather too carefree neutral umpire, Javed Akhtar, if one of the more pardonable ones. One of his overs has consisted of five balls, another of seven.
The forecast sunshine never emerged for long, the clouds kept the ball swinging and the fast bowlers persevering. Atherton was the man to set the example of patient shot-selection but as it turned out, in his absence, no example was needed because England's top order heeded their mistakes of first time round and answered excellent bowling with excellence of their own.
But progress could only be slow as England slugged their way forwards inch by inch to get back on level terms and more. It was an hour's work to clear the first-innings arrears of 22, and the runs which did so were four byes which soared over batsman and wicketkeeper.
The morning brought 65 runs, the afternoon 79 for all of Alec Stewart's strokeplay, but the prevailing austerity made the runs when they did arrive all the more appreciated.
Only when Makhaya Ntini bowled a four-over spell costing 24 runs did England's batsmen have any scope, and Mark Butcher helped himself to some choice cuts. Yesterday, the series at stake, was a time for older heads not in a hurry.
Butcher, for the first time indeed, looked a Test player who belonged, not just a talented batsman playing in a Test match. The nervous, speculative air-shots were almost eliminated, but not the quick singles and the front-foot drives and the clips through square leg. The steel may lie well beneath the surface but it exists.
There was a case for Graeme Hick, if he were to be picked, to bat at No 3. Nasser Hussain answered that one, all right. He did not let the pressure get to him when his start was slow, and was not seduced by the sight of Stewart walking in and reeling off drive after drive as if a billiard table were the surface, not something already tried and convicted for uneven bounce.
Allan Donald's afternoon spell of five overs at Hussain and Stewart might have been hailed as the highlight of the series if the fast bowler had not enjoyed a previous tussle or two. If England do win here - it would be the first time since 1955 that they have won a final Test from a position of all-square - this purple passage may come to be seen as the moment England finally wriggled out on top.
Hussain made the first contribution, two breathtaking short-arm hooks in an over. Incensed, Donald made sure that his next bouncer could not be reached at all. Stewart then contributed four drives, straight and through the covers, off front foot and back, some of which could not have been surpassed by such English masters of the stroke as Dexter and Hammond. Seldom can two southerners have been so lauded on this ground as this pair were at tea.
At an earlier stage Stewart had taken three fours in succession off Donald, only the middle one had been a mistake which had flown between first and second slips. Stewart's captaincy should not be forgotten either, for on Friday afternoon he was impressively mature as he consoled and cheered those of his fielders who had dropped three chances in 22 balls. His tenure, bar injury, is going to be more than stop-gap.
Hansie Cronje would have tried a spinner if he had owned one: he admitted as much by giving Daryll Cullinan an over before lunch. The South African captain tried himself as well, a sixth seamer, but nothing came from the attempt as Mark Ramprakash survived a hair-raising but not finger-raising start: his first ball, from Shaun Pollock, might well have brushed some relevant part before it was caught down the leg side.
Hussain peered out from above the parapet for long enough to hit three balls in a row from Jacques Kallis for 10 runs as the occasion for the second new ball approached, most of them through his favourite area of point. Until then Hussain's scoring rate was well behind one run per over, but that did not matter as time is unlikely to have much bearing, and survival alone was commendable in the face of an attack becoming desperate not to leave these shores without reward.
As soon as the second ball came to hand, the South Africans seized upon it as a last chance. Thus it remains, for this morning that ball will become the kitchen sink as Donald and Pollock throw everything at England to expose their soft underbelly. Below England's fourth wicket, not one of them averages so much as 20 runs in this series.
If England are to win, though, their three pace bowlers may need some assistance from quarters other than the pitch as it cracks.
Since the Lord's Test, Angus Fraser, Darren Gough and Dominic Cork have taken all but two of the South African wickets, an alarming dependence, ably as the three of them have responded.
England announced their plan this summer to be the deployment of five bowlers, not a trio.
Day 4: Gough takes England to brink
OF the many dramatic Headingley Tests since the square turned from the bowlers' graveyard it was in the days of Bradman into the cracked surface which has made batting so much harder in the last 20 years, this has been just about the closest and most desperately exciting of them all, writes Christopher Martin-Jenkins.
In spite of a heroic 85 by Jonty Rhodes, his partnership of 117 with Brian McMillan and fast bowling of supreme quality by Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock, the game looks like being won by England this morning, but no one now, as at any stage since the start last Thursday, can be sure.
A wonderful cricket match might already have been resolved had the umpires not agreed, shortly before half past six on a sunny evening, that play should cease at a point when England needed two more wickets, South Africa 34 runs.
As the players were coming off, physically and emotionally drained no doubt, the South African 12th man, Paul Adams, ran on with a belated claim for the optional extra half-hour. The South Africans reasoned that the odds were in their favour against a tired and effectively three-man England attack.
Darren Gough, having taken five for 36, three of them with the new ball as South Africa collapsed to 27 for five in pursuit of 219, will be the centre of attention again this morning when play starts before however many spectators wish to take advantage of free admission. The sunshine has reached Yorkshire at last and England stand on the verge of their first major series victory for 12 years, driven there not just by Gough but by a seven hour innings of immense resolution by Nasser Hussain.
Gough, Angus Fraser and Dominic Cork have taken all 18 South African wickets in the game between them. Ian Salisbury had his chance yesterday but he tried too hard to give the ball a rip on the dry surface and the old tendency to drop short or overpitch cost 34 from eight overs either side of tea as Rhodes and McMillan threatened a bouleversement worthy of the famous England deliverance against Australia in 1981. They came together after the top five had disappeared for 18 runs in the space of 10 giddy overs after lunch.
Not that an England win this morning would be any less remarkable. It is five weeks to the day since they saved the Old Trafford Test when one down in the series, having been 73 runs behind with only four wickets left and 51 overs still to be bowled. Robert Croft will not be forgotten if the champagne goes to the England rather than South African dressing-room today.
Pollock, Donald and, if he is needed, Makhaya Ntini (who had faced only one ball in any game on the tour when this match started - against Ireland) are the three batsmen who remain. Batting in the fourth innings has been less difficult than anticipated. Indeed, once the new ball went soft yesterday it was the tendency of the ball to stop, rather than any alarming bounce either up or down, which alone presented problems. That might not change because the issue could be decided before the second new ball is due, in 13 overs.
The South African bowlers, so utterly in control yesterday morning with the second new ball, had found it equally hard going with the old one. With limitless patience Hussain, frequently rapped on the glove and scoring mainly through extra cover off the front foot, batted all day after Mike Atherton had been lbw, via his inside edge, to the first ball of Saturday morning.
Mark Butcher has finished the series top of the England batting averages, at 56 two runs better than Atherton, as a result of the solid 37 he added to his first-innings century on Saturday. He was caught behind off an outside edge to Pollock, significantly bowling over the wicket, but Alec Stewart played excellently in Hussain's support, mixing watchful defence with two flurries of beautifully timed attacking shots.
Mark Ramprakash again sold his wicket dearly, though it looked as though he had some luck at last when he appeared to glance his first ball from Pollock to Mark Boucher, and the result was that England were comfortably placed at 206 for four when Donald and Pollock resumed with the second new ball still shiny and hard in the belated sunshine of yesterday morning.
They bowled formidably fast and well, though this time it took two balls of the morning for the first wicket to fall. Salisbury, having hung on for 20 minutes the previous evening to protect Graeme Hick, gloved a rearing ball to Boucher, but for once it was guile rather than pace which accounted for Hick. A slower ball deceived him as he drove towards extra cover and before the over was out another 75mph off-break had snared young Andrew Flintoff too.
Cork batted for an hour, never with any certainty as Pollock and Donald swung and bounced the ball in a way their English counterparts never equalled, but Hussain's iron-willed effort ended six runs short of the hundred he richly deserved when he in turn played too early and lifted a catch to mid-off. He was distraught.
England added only 11 more once he had dragged himself off, head down, for what will remain the highest and longest innings of the game. By contrast Donald, who will not bowl again in a Test in England and who, because of his sore left ankle, is unlikely to take any further part on this tour once he has batted today, waved farewell to a cheering crowd when he walked off at the end of a spell which had earned him four for 14 and taken his total for the series to 33.
Barely an hour after lunch Donald was contemplating strapping on his pads. Gerry Liebenberg was cruelly given out by umpire Javed Akhtar off an inside edge on to his front pad and in the ninth over Gary Kirsten drove low to the gully to give Gough, who bowled splendidly with new ball and old, his second wicket. Jacques Kallis, plumb in front as he played slightly across Fraser, went an over later and Hansie Cronje got a thin edge after his bat brushed his pad.
Daryll Cullinan, too, was leg before, half forward, but from the moment he came in, smiling, Rhodes was brilliant. He has been a revelation as a batsman on this tour and his timing and assertiveness turned back the tide with McMillan in support. They forced Stewart into defensive fields and their stand was easily the largest in the game when finally McMillan erred, top-edging a hook at a bouncer from Cork.
Rhodes, his momentum gone, followed at 167, chipping to midwicket to enormous English relief after making his 85 from only 117 balls, with eight fours and the cleanest of pulls for six off Salisbury. But Pollock, elegant and calm, played very well too and still the game hangs in the balance.
Day 5: England's deserved triumph wins back the doubters
TWO things were not in doubt when the dust had settled at Headingley: the fact of England's victory by 23 runs and the public longing for an overdue triumph, writes Christopher Martin-Jenkins.
Given free admission, more than 10,000 streamed into Headingley on a warm, misty morning, all of them knowing that two balls and the post-match interviews might be the limit of the entertainment. In the event they saw 29 minutes of cricket and the two wickets which sealed England's first win in a five-Test series since December 28, 1986.
Angus Fraser, who bowled three overs without conceding a run, and Darren Gough, whose six for 42 were his best Test figures, in his 25th match, were the bowlers to finish the job. But Alec Stewart, who had captained ably and batted and kept wicket to the highest standard throughout the series, was the first to stress that it was a team performance and the £200,000 winning bonus offered by Cornhill, Vodafone and the England and Wales Cricket Board will be shared by 18 players, not all of whom will be on the major part of the tour to Australia.
The issue was in doubt for six overs as South Africa, needing 34 more runs, inched towards their target in singles and leg byes. Moments of profound silence as Gough and Fraser ran in to bowl Yorkshire's folk hero from the Rugby Stand End, Fraser down the hill from Kirkstall Lane - were followed by bursts of applause whenever a ball passed without a run being scored.
Shaun Pollock played straight and with confidence and it was not until the second ball of the sixth over that Allan Donald played with an angled bat at Fraser outside the off stump and got an almost indiscernible outside edge to give Stewart his 23rd catch of the series. Makhaya Ntini survived the rest of the over without trouble but, plunging forward to a ball which nipped back from the off stump after Pollock had taken a single in the next, he saw Javed Akhtar's bony finger lift for the ninth and last time in the match.
In a just world this would have been a drawn series. England had more than their fair share of luck in both of the Tests they have won over the last three weeks, not least in umpiring decisions. Far too many of the eight lbws which went against South Africa (two against England) were dubious and one of their national selectors was seething with anger at the inequity of it all, though the captain, Hansie Cronje, remained diplomatic.
But England were overdue a change of luck and they deserved it after the heroic recovery at Old Trafford five weeks ago. It is frightening how narrow was the line between the national apathy and media-led gloom which would have followed had England gone two down in Manchester; and the euphoria now being felt by all connected with England cricket, the professionals, the media and amateur cricketers of all ages included.
South Africa might have won the series had Lance Klusener been fit to bowl on the last day at Old Trafford and in the last two Tests, but, equally, rain on the last day at Edgbaston might have saved them from defeat and England have been without Graham Thorpe for the last two games.
The search continues for at least one more bowler of the pace of Gough or Donald - Jimmy Ormond, Alex Tudor and Stephen Harmison are all capable of breaking through - and for a Test-class wrist-spinner. Whether to give Ian Salisbury one more chance or wait for Chris Schofield is one of several ticklish decisions the selectors have to make.
But winning can become a habit because of the confidence and team spirit which a success like this engenders. England actually won three Tests in a row last year - at Wellington, Christchurch and Edgbaston - but if they can defeat Sri Lanka at the Oval at the end of this month and Shane Warne really is in doubt for the series in Australia, the corner may finally have been turned.
Successful Test sides need good opening pairs, both batsmen and bowlers. It is no coincidence that England have been able to make effective use at last of their three leading fast and fast-medium bowlers, Fraser, Gough and Cork, while Mike Atherton, off the field yesterday morning because of food poisoning, called Mark Butcher ``the find of the series''.
Butcher is left-handed, he plays straight and he scores at a decent pace. His emergence, coupled with the return of Atherton's form and fluency after diligent net practice to make himself stand taller and stiller in the crease, enabled England to get a sufficient number of good starts against the formidable Donald and Pollock. Therein lay the basis of a close and constantly interesting series.
Pollock did not find the right length for English pitches until the final game but he will be a champion by the time he returns. Donald was officially South Africa's man of the series with 33 wickets, Atherton was England's and Butcher was Paul Allott's selection as the man of the fifth Test.
Despite his foot injury Donald stays on for the triangular series also involving Sri Lanka which starts at Trent Bridge on Friday and which is sandwiched into a seven-day period before the sole Test against Sri Lanka at the Oval, beginning a fortnight on Thursday. The one-day team is announced today and if Mal Loye, of Northamptonshire, is included it will be an indication that he is in the running for Graeme Hick's place in the last Test of the season.
In the long sequence of defeats under Mike Gatting, David Gower, Graham Gooch and Atherton - briefly also John Emburey and Chris Cowdrey - the rub of the green tended to go against England as it has against South Africa in the last few weeks. That is sport and that is life. If Stewart turns out to be a consistent winner it will not be the first example of the right man in the right place at the right time.
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Stewart leads England to rare moment of Test glory
By Peter Deeley at Headingley, Leeds
ENGLAND polished off South Africa yesterday to win the Cornhill Test series 2-1 and record their first major series victory at home since 1985.
Mark Butcher, left, and Alec Stewart celebrate yesterday An estimated 13,000 spectators - only 3,000 short of Headingley's capacity - took advantage of free entry to watch Angus Fraser and Darren Gough take exactly 30 minutes to capture the last two South African wickets for a 23-run victory.
That was the signal for a huge pitch invasion. Gough, a Yorkshireman who has become a folk hero on the Headingley terraces during this Test, was mobbed and appeared to slip before he could reach the safety of the human barrier created by security officials in front of the England dressing-room.
The Pakistani umpire Javed Akhtar - whose decisions have been the subject of much debate - gave South Africa's last batsman Makhaya Ntini out leg before wicket to provide Gough with his best-ever Test bowling figures of 6-42.
Akhtar gave nine of the 10 lbw verdicts in the match, seven of them against the tourists. Afterwards, the South African captain Hansie Cronje revealed that he has been asked to submit a report on ``how umpiring can be improved'' to his home cricket board ``when we have cooled down''. But he refused to blame the umpiring for this defeat.
The game had been poised on a knife-edge overnight with South Africa needing another 34 runs to win the series and England two more wickets. The England captain Alec Stewart said he ``had a pretty sleepless night'' while the coach, David Lloyd, said he had not slept after 4.30am.
Stewart said: ``We have been through a lot of hard times: hopefully this will be the start of the good times. We haven't conquered the heights yet. We still have to take on Australia, who are the best side in the world, this winter. But the team spirit is magnificent and we have proved that we can come back.
``We were almost out of the series after the third Test at Old Trafford. But we hung in and have got stronger since.''
Stewart said the team was grateful for the support shown to them by the Yorkshire crowd. ``It shows that if you start winning the support will turn up. If you lose you are in for criticism.
``If England win at anything - from the World Cup to tiddlywinks the people are happy. The whole country will have enjoyed this as much as we have.''
The former England captain Michael Atherton - selected as one of the men of the series along with South African fast bowler Allan Donald - almost missed the final moments. He had food poisoning and had to see a specialist yesterday before catching a taxi and arriving just as the last wicket fell.