Cricket: By five minutes past two it was over. A wide delivery from the pace bowler Jacques Kallis was sliced unceremoniously by Marcus Trescothick over the slips to the third-man boundary and England had won the final Test match by nine wickets.

It almost defies belief: at the end of the first day of the match, with South Africa 362 for four, the discerning punter could have found odds of 40 to 1 against an England win.

England thus share a series that had, at times, seemed destined to go to South Africa and their impressive young leader Graeme Smith. Despite Smith's inspirational twin double centuries at Edgbaston and Lord's and despite the drubbing in the one-day internationals that preceded the Test series, Smith was forced to pose alongside Michael Vaughan with the trophy.

Smith is generous towards the opposition, but behind the smile his teeth were more gritted than Snake Pass in winter. This, he knew, was a match - and series - that his side had under control and they blew it.

England had sealed the match after lunch with an unbroken second-wicket partnership of 63 between Trescothick and Mark Butcher. They scored at more than a run a ball as the South African bowlers threw caution to the wind and strained every sinew for the wickets that would be their only salvation.

Trescothick had been dropped by Andrew Hall from the first ball of the second over as England set out in pursuit of 110 to win. That miss seemed to symbolise the demise of the South African effort.

South Africa did, however, manage the wicket of Vaughan immediately after the interval. The England captain was caught at the wicket having thrown his bat at a wide long hop, finishing the summer with a sudden - if not yet disconcerting - blip in his stupendous form of the past year.

It was the only South African success, though. The coup de grace was the 12th boundary of Trescothick's innings of 69, which was also his 44th of the match in which he contributed 288 runs. That aggregate has only been bettered at the Oval by Len Hutton. Having batted better than at any time in his life, Trescothick was a worthy winner of the man of the match.

Guardian Service

Overnight: England 604-9 dec (M E Trescothick 219, G P Thorpe 124, A Flintoff 95). South Africa 484 (H H Gibbs 183, G Kirsten 90, S M Pollock 66 no, J H Kallis 66) and 185-6.

South Africa Second Innings

M V Boucher c Stewart b Bicknell 25

S M Pollock c Thorpe b Harmison 43

A J Hall c Smith b Bicknell 0

P R Adams not out 13

M Ntini c Smith b Harmison 1

Extras b1 lb7 nb1 pens 0 9

Total (69.2 overs) ... 229

Fall: 1-24 2-34 3-92 4-93 5-118 6-150 7-193 8-193 9-215

Bowling: Bicknell 24 5 84 4; Anderson 10 1 55 1; Harmison 19.2 8 33 4; Giles 10 2 36 0; Flintoff 6 2 13 1

England Second Innings

M E Trescothick not out 69

M P Vaughan c Boucher b Kallis 13

M A Butcher not out 20

Extras lb4 nb4 pens 0 8

Total 1 wkt (22.2 overs) ... 110

Fall: 1-47

Did Not Bat: G P Thorpe, E T Smith, A J Stewart, A Flintoff, A F Giles, M P Bicknell, J M Anderson, S J Harmison.

Bowling: Pollock 6 0 15 0; Ntini 8 0 46 0; Kallis 5.2 0 25 1; Adams 3 0 20 0

England beat South Africa by 9 wkts.