Butcher innings was piece of magic

You probably won't believe me. But I came close to cheering out loud at Headingley as Mark Butcher went from strength to strength. It's not usually a great sight, as far as I'm concerned, when England are beating Australia in any form of sport.

But some times you just forget what you hoped would happen and revel in a piece of real magic.

Butcher was magnificent, pure and simple, and anyone unsure about the quality of his innings had only to look at the reaction of the Australian players when he reached his century and again once the game was won.

Their handshakes and pats on the back spoke volumes.

They knew they had been on the wrong end of something extra-special and, at times like that, even the fiercest competitor wants to pay tribute.

I dare say some people back at home will be criticising Adam Gilchrist for being too generous with his declaration and giving the old enemy a sniff of victory.

In hindsight, it probably went wrong for him on the fourth evening when he expected to pick up two or three wickets to leave England in the mire. Instead of that happening, though, rain prevented Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie from having a proper go and conditions were obviously brighter and better for batting the next morning.

But come on. How many people honestly thought that England had a prayer going into the fifth day?

Certainly not me. Thanks mainly to Butcher, Gilchrist will now go down in history as the Aussie skipper who lost to England after declaring when he could have made the game safe. But I would be surprised and disappointed if the result did his long-term captaincy chances any damage whatsoever.

The other question people will be asking is whether Steve Waugh would have been more conservative if he had been making the decisions rather than resting his damaged calf.

I think that is a difficult one to answer because anyone thinking or talking about the match now has the benefit of hindsight.