Even in their wildest dreams, England could hardly have imagined that they would be in such a compelling position on day five after being bowled out for a paltry 139 in the first innings at Durban.

The turnaround was quite amazing. South Africa had laid the foundation for a series-levelling victory by bowling England out cheaply and then achieving a huge lead of 193. The highlight of their first innings was a splendid hundred by Jacques Kallis, their best batsman of 2004. All that was left was the knockout punch in England's second innings. But the hosts and their supporters were in for a shock.

Andrew Strauss, England's hero of the first Test, once again showed his class on a wicket that turned silken smooth as day three approached. Marcus Trescothick, who made most of the wicket and the lack of gusto from the South African bowlers, joined him in a gargantuan 273-run opening stand. The hosts then raised their game and passion to take some quick wickets, but Flintoff and Thorpe joined hands at 314-4 to take the game further away from their opponents.

The experienced and inventive Thorpe left South Africa exasperated with a glorious sixteenth Test century. He feasted on South Africa's skeptical approach to the state of the pitch with some imperious shots intermingled with singles and twos. His blistering hundred-run partnerships with Andrew Flintoff and Geraint Jones, who both helped themselves to ingenious half-centuries, were the works of method in madness. South Africa were looking ragged as the day progressed, and were left to get 378 to win.
 

The umpire could not have asked for an easier lbw decision than the one to send Graeme Smith back to the pavilion on the fourth evening. Flintoff provided the first breakthrough on the last day when he had the night-watchman Nicky Boje caught at short leg with a steepler. Herschelle Gibbs and Jacques Rudolph batted beautifully in a brief period before lunch. Steve Harmison, who had not been at his best in the first session, then induced Gibbs to give a catch to gully. He followed it up with the big wicket of Jacques Kallis, who provided a neat edge to leave South Africa at 103-4.
 

Rudolph and Martin van Jaarsveld then set the stadium alight with scintillating stroke-play. Jaarsveld departed one short of the fifty-mark while Rudolph was unlucky to be given out when the ball brushed his forearm on the way to short leg, ending a valiant innings of 61. Shaun Pollock resisted stoically along with AB de Villiers, who scored a remarkable half-century, and it seemed with an hour's play left that the hosts would scrape through to a draw. But Pollock's horrendous run-out changed the picture. Enter Makhaya Ntini. He pulled off four remarkable fours in a Harmison over, which turned out to be the last of the game as the umpires offered the light to the batsmen, who gleefully accepted. At that stage, England were only two wickets away from their ninth consecutive Test win, and the relief in the South African dressing-room was palpable.

Umpires Darrel Hair (left) and Simon Taufel walk off the field after they offered the light to the South African batsmen, who promptly accepted it.

England took the honours. They scored 570-7 in their second innings, a record-breaking 431 more than what they had scored in the first innings. This performance surpassed their feat against Australia in 1894-95, wherein they had scored 75 in the first innings and 475 in the second. Michael Vaughan's hapless expression at the end of the game said it all. Poor light had deprived his team of what would have been one of the most incredible wins in the history of Test cricket.