A joy to see one of our great wins

But, so far as matches of recent vintage are concerned, today's success can be talked about in the same breath as that twilight victory in Karachi three winters ago and the totally unexpected 1998 Ashes match triumph at Melbourne.

Here, most people had given up on England after day one when South Africa soared to 362 for four. And those that still held out a bit of hope abandoned it once the tourists recovered from a mini-slump on Friday morning to post a total of 484.

Nasser Hussain, the captain who fell on his sword after the first Test of the series was drawn at Edgbaston in July and missed this game through injury, used to talk, Baldrick-like, of having "cunning plans".

Perhaps England's here was to allow South Africa to score so quickly in their first innings there was still plenty of time left for a fightback.

In any event, Marcus Trescothick's double century and Graham Thorpe's wonderful comeback hundred made sure the tourists' total would be passed.

But it was Andrew Flintoff 's sensational Sunday innings of 95 that frightened South Africa and led Vaughan's men to believe they really could achieve a tremendous bit of cricket history.

He blasted the opposition into near submission and, although a magnificent Oval pitch was still in excellent condition, an England lead of 120 assumed alarming proportions for a visiting side desperate to take this series.

South Africa needed no reminding they had been pegged back from winning positions on their two previous tours here, drawing in 1994 and then losing four years later. Vaughan's side, on the other hand, were probably unaware that no England side had won a Test on home soil after conceding so many runs in the first innings of the match.

In the end, though, South Africa failed their challenge while England rose and eventually conquered a real mountain.

South Africa captain Graeme Smith and his fellow tourists looked shattered, almost broken amid all the home celebrations and it was easy to feel some sympathy for them.

Over the course of five Test matches, however, they finish ahead on points.

Cricket, though, is about knock-out punches - South Africa could not land one and the rivals were left to shake hands on a draw.

For England, though, it must have felt like they had won the series and this was just the retirement party Alec Stewart probably had in mind, but dare not discuss, when he announced his plans seven weeks ago. It was Stewart who led England on the field this morning and back off it 55 minutes later. He took a catch, as well, for good measure.

But it was two bowlers at opposite ends of the experience scale who kept his champagne party on course for a happy ending.

Martin Bicknell and Steve Harmison struck twice apiece as South Africa crumpled from an overnight 185 for six to 229 and walked away with four wickets each.

That left England with a victory target of just 110 and, apart from a darkening skyline over south-east London, their only real concern was Vaughan's dismissal for 13 - caught behind, cutting at Jacques Kallis.

If you are harsh, given the poor standard of pitches at Trent Bridge and Headingley, it was his eighth consecutive failure since taking over as captain. But a couple of Tests in Bangladesh this autumn ought to take care of that statistic and this triumph for the team will leave him feeling like a millionaire - not a pauper - tonight.

Back in the middle, Trescothick soothed any nerves with an undefeated 69, having survived an early slip chance, to take the man of the match award away from Flintoff.

The winning boundary from the left-handed opener may have been an edged cut over slip off Kallis, but not many cared.

As so often happens, of course, the bowlers were in danger of being forgotten. But one of them, particularly, will never forget these few days.

At 34, Bicknell may be playing his last Test, just like Stewart, but he is now certain of at least an honourable mention on Wednesday when the selectors announce their squads for the pre- Christmas tours of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Recalled last month after an absence of more than a decade, the Surrey seam and swing bowler has been regarded as a "horses for courses" choice while younger rivals - like Matthew Hoggard - recover from injury.

As for 24-year-old Steve Harmison, pace is never going to be a problem. But a general lack of precision could persuade England to leave him at home for the first part of this winter before unleashing his potential in the Caribbean. Here, though, the pair combined superbly during South Africa's second innings. They did plenty of damage yesterday while bowling in tandem and repeated the dose this morning when captain Vaughan had no need to look beyond them.

Bicknell raised the mood of optimism several notches by dismissing Boucher (25) and Andrew Hall (0) with consecutive deliveries during his second over.

First, the dangerous Boucher drove at an away-swinger to give Stewart one of the more straightforward catches of his 133-Test match career. Then Hall, as though frozen almost solid by the mounting pressure, jabbed a gently lifting ball straight to Ed Smith at mid-wicket.

Could England still fall short? Not once Pollock steered a half-hearted cut against Harmison straight to backward point and Makhaya Ntini was brilliantly caught by Ed Smith at short leg.