'A very special win'

Only two results were possible at the start of the final day's play: a draw or a South Africa win. Well, that's what we thought at any rate. Michael Vaughan, on the other hand, thought very differently, and said as much afterwards, once England had wrapped up an astonishing 77-run victory with eight overs of the match to spare.

"That was the opinion of a number of so-called experts," Vaughan retorted. "The opinion of our team was that, if we came and batted well for first hour and half, the game was there for us to win. We've had some great wins in the last year, but this is very, very special indeed. To bowl the South African team out in two sessions, when they usually have nine batters, was truly amazing."

Though the hero of the final day was Matthew Hoggard, who grabbed all six of the first wickets to fall en route to career-best figures of 7 for 61, it was Marcus Trescothick who established the tone for the day, with a buccaneering 180 in the morning session. "Trescothick's innings was very special," said Vaughan. "It was so free scoring that it allowed us to declare in a fashion where we could set attacking fields and put them under pressure."

England's prospects of victory had been dented by the calf injury that Steve Harmison endured in the first innings, and there had been some doubt as to whether he could take any further part in the match. In the end, he produced a lengthy but luckless stint, although Vaughan admitted that his fitness worries had affected the timing of England's declaration.

"We wanted quite a few runs [this morning]," said Vaughan, "because we didn't know what we'd get from our bowlers. Hoggy's tired, Freddie's tired, and Jimmy's young, but all I asked at the start was that they gave it their all for 60 overs or more, and see where we are at the end of it. It was a very tough game mentally, with its ups and downs and lengthy interruptions, so to come back and win showed great mental resolve.

It's been a hard trip," Vaughan conceded. "I'm tired, so I dread to think how the bowlers are feeling. But they've kept running in and giving it their all, and once we had our lead, that allowed us to set attacking fields with six slips, and we knew that if we put the ball in the right areas, we'd get our opportunities. Hoggy did that superbly, and though didn't take all our opportunities, we took enough to win the game."

Hoggard set England up for victory by grabbing two wickets in two balls at the top of the innings, including the vital scalp of Jacques Kallis for a first-ball duck. "To get their best player first ball is what you need in these situations," said Vaughan. "It was a tremendous effort for Hoggy to keep running in as he has done for the whole tour. He'd be the first to admit that he didn't bowl as well as he had in the first innings, but he still picked up a five-fer."

It was a return to familiar territory for Hoggard, who played two years of club cricket in Johannesburg in the mid-1990s, before moving on to Free State for two seasons. "I've had four years of international cricket since I last played here," he said, when asked how his game had changed in the intervening years. "I've been bowling on different wickets all around the world, and coming into a balanced squad helps me as well. It's taken me a while to realise my role, but now I've found a niche, I hope to continue.

"I didn't really think I was due a big one," he said, despite having been England's most reliable bowler all tour. "Obviously the wicket did a little and the cracks are opening up, but I just put ball in the right areas and thankfully I came out on top. I'm pretty tired now, but I'd have been more tired if we'd lost or drawn. The victory has given me a boost.

"I'll take some special memories from today," he added. "This is definitely up there with the best of them. Michael's got me a stump as a souvenir, so I'll be sure to get it signed and put it up on the wall."