There was the slenderest of margins, more slender than 19 runs sounds, between a 4-1 and a 3-2 series defeat; between despair and reasonable hope; between a team without confidence and one who can draw strength from the second of two victories won against the head in the last six months.

Australia wanted to win no less than usual and they obviously thought they would do so when Michael Kasprowicz became an unlikely and cruelly short-lived hero by whistling though England's tail and becoming the third man in the match to return a seven-wicket analysis. They were denied by the inspired bowling of Andrew Caddick and Phil Tufnell, flawless captaincy by Mike Atherton, brilliant field- ing and a crumbling pitch.

Australia played true to form, losing the last match of a series they had already won for the third time running and proving frail, once more, when a short haul to a fourth-innings target was demand- ed of them on a tricky pitch. This was the first Oval Test to end in three days since Tony Lock took 11 wickets against the West Indies 40 years ago. Seventeen wickets fell on Saturday in 72 overs. It was a wonderfully exciting game, as matches on unreliable surfaces tend to be.

Graham Thorpe played a fine innings in the morning. He was helped by Shane Warne's groin injury, though a leg-break in his first over turned far enough for Nasser Hussain to be caught at backward point as he leaned away from a square cut in his effort to exert early control. Thorpe and Mark Ramprakash, who played very well but still got away with two hot-headed strokes, added 79 before Thorpe drove at a ball from Kasprowicz angled across his body and Mark Taylor took a sizzling slip catch.

Adam Hollioake was lbw, a shade unluckily, defending on the crease and Ramprakash fell after lunch trying to hit Warne back over his head, before the last three wickets fell in one over.

With Australia chasing 124 runs, Devon Malcolm was asked to bowl flat out and got the early break when Matthew Elliott padded up. Then Caddick bowled with hostility and an unremitting off-stump line to the right length.

At 36, Taylor was trapped on the crease after playing some fine strokes. At 42, Mark Waugh was caught at slip, playing for- ward. At 49, Greg Blewett drove at an in- swinger and was adjudged by Lloyd Barker to have got an inside edge. It might have been lucky for Cad- dick but this was luck he deserved and soon after tea he took what was probably the pivotal wicket when Steve Waugh drove with his weight on the back foot, the ball straightened a fraction and Thorpe clutched the catch to his chest at first slip.

There was an Australian rally now and the possibility of an anticlimax for England. Ian Healy hit a four at either end; Ricky Ponting attacked with quick eyes and feet. At 88, he was given out by Peter Willey when a ball spun past his front pad and hit his back. It might have missed off stump, but the force was with England. Healy's crisp drive struck Caddick's outstretched right arm before he juggled and cradled the ball like the tenderest baby.

Atherton set his field carefully for the inevitable attempt at a counter-attack. Peter Martin judged Warne's skier perfectly, running back from mid-on. Shaun Young looked calm in his first Test and he and Kasprowicz reduced the target to 25 before Atherton switched Hollioake from short square-leg to short extra-cover and, two deliveries later, the ball popped obligingly.

Young hit one handsome off-drive but Glenn McGrath scooped Tufnell to mid-off, the catch was taken low and English joy was uncon- fined. Yesterday's ticket-holders can apply for a full refund at a cost to the England and Wales Cricket Board of more than -L450,000.