England claim historic win

Michael Vaughan and his England team created history here today and then vowed to keep on improving.

With man-of-the-match Andrew Strauss adding an unbeaten 94 to his first innings century, Vaughan's men beat South Africa by seven wickets to register their eighth consecutive Test victory.

England had won seven in a row on two previous occasions, in the 1890s and 1920s, but never managed to achieve eight straight wins.

Now they have, despite playing well below their summer best at St George's Park and even though captain Vaughan insisted he didn't give the record a second thought when the match started.

Vaughan said: "It wasn't in my mind going into the Test. All I was thinking about was trying to make sure we got South Africa on to the back foot. But now we've achieved it I do realise we've created something very special."

England's biggest worry today was the weather. They needed 49 more runs this morning and, thanks to Strauss and Graham Thorpe, achieved the target without alarm. The promised thunderstorms arrived, though, within a couple of hours of the finish.

But Vaughan's thoughts now are firmly centred on the Second Test in Durban, which starts on Boxing Day. And he wants to see a big improvement in his team's performance there as they bid to complete the year undefeated.