SA 248-8 and 0-0dec
Eng 0-0dec and 251-8
Eng win by two wickets

England have pulled off an unlikely and historic win over South Africa in the final Test at Centurion Park.

The game could not have been scripted better, and was still in the balance as it entered its final over, with any of four results possible.

South Africa could have won with two more wickets, while a draw and even a tie was still possible.

But it was the touring team - and the game itself - which triumphed as spectators frustrated by three days without cricket saw a day's action they are unlikely to forget.

Darren Gough hit the winning runs with just five balls to spare, although England had Alec Stewart and Michael Vaughan to thank for a victory.

The pair put on 126 runs on the way to the first finish of its kind in over a century of Test cricket.

Both sides agreed to forfeit an innings as South Africa set the tourists 249 to win after three days were lost to rain.

Never before had one innings been given up, let alone two.

When Stewart and Vaughan came together at 102 for four it looked as though all England could do was save the game and avoid going 3-0 down in the series.

But the pair kept the scoreboard ticking over while protecting their wickets, and let loose as the final hour of the shortened match began.

When Stewart was out for 73, just 21 was needed for victory and a 2-1 series deficit, with five wickets still in hand.

Three more batsmen were lost in a nervous finale, including man of the match Vaughan for a fine 69.

But two Yorkshiremen, Gough and Chris Silverwood kept cool heads to take England home.

The unlikely chance of a positive result was created by captains Hansie Cronje and Nasser Hussain bending the rules, with the approval of the lawmakers.

The umpires later said that both forfeited innings should go down in the scorebook as 0 for 0 declared.

Resuming on 155 for six, the home side batted for two further hours in the morning.

They declared on 248 for eight, with Allan Mullally the only England bowler to take a wicket, bowling Mark Boucher.

Shaun Pollock was run out by a direct hit from Hussain, who agreed during the morning to make a game of it.

England had 76 overs to get the runs, easy enough by one-day standards but played without restrictions on fielding positions or wide bowling.

The visitors lost Michael Atherton with just 28 runs on the board, and Mark Butcher with 67 knocked off.

Atherton fended off a rising delivery from Pollock behind the wicket, while Klusener's slower ball trapped Butcher lbw.

Hussain was caught just behind square on the off side off Pollock for 25, to leave England 91 for three at tea.

Chris Adams' disappointing first Test series ended with a one as Nantie Hayward had him caught behind.

But Stewart and Vaughan dug in, and the hosts were made to regret a brave fielding effort by spinner Paul Adams, who broke his finger on an advertising hoard while trying to save a boundary.

He could not bowl, leaving debutant left-arm slow bowler Pieter Strydom as the only variation in Cronje's mainly seam attack.

Stewart hit the young bowler for six to reach both his 50 and 6,500 runs in Test cricket, while Vaughan was also scoring increasingly more freely.

With victory in sight Hayward set up a tense finish by having Stewart caught behind.

Darren Maddy was then run out before Andrew Caddick became Boucher's fourth catch - off Pollock this time.

Gough arrived to support Yorkshire colleague Vaughan, but it was the specialist batsman who perished.

Hayward tempted Vaughan into a pull attempt which he missed completely, and then pitched the next ball up and bowled the England batsman as he tried to cut.

That left another Yorkshire pair in charge of England's destiny, as Silverwood joined Gough with eight needed off two overs.

Silverwood hit the first ball of the penultimate over for two, but could not score from the next four, with Pollock resorting to bowling two bouncers.

The last ball of the over was calved away for four, opening the door for Gough to hit the winning runs from the next delivery - the first of the last over.

Scorecard

Fifth Test Match: South Africa v England
18 Jan 00 at Centurion Park

England beat South Africa by 2 wkts

Scorecard correct at 16:30 GMT 16:30 UK

England second innings 251 for 8 (75.1overs)
South Africa innings for (overs) , innings forfeit

England innings for (overs) , declared

South Africa first innings 248 for 8 (72overs) , declared

England second innings

Batsman			Runs	Balls	4s	6s
MA Butcher	lbw	b Klusener	36	84	6	-
MA Atherton	c Boucher	b Pollock	7	29	1	-
N Hussain	c Gibbs	b Pollock	25	69	2	-
AJ Stewart	c Boucher	b Hayward	73	140	10	1
CJ Adams	c Boucher	b Hayward	1	10	-	-
MP Vaughan		b Hayward	69	108	9	-
DL Maddy		run out	3	6	-	-
AR Caddick	c Boucher	b Pollock	0	2	-	-
D Gough		not out	6	3	1	-
CEW Silverwood		not out	7	7	1	-
Extras	4b 9lb 4w 7nb		24
TOTAL:	8 wkts, 75.1 overs		251

Fall of wickets: 1-28 (28 Atherton, 39 mins), 2-67 (39 Butcher, 68 mins), 3-90 (23 Hussain, 25 mins), 4-102 (12 Adams, 21 mins), 5-228 (126 Stewart, 131 mins), 6-236 (8 Maddy, 12 mins), 7-236 (0 Caddick, 0 mins), 8-240 (4 Vaughan, 6 mins)
Still to bat: A D Mullally

Bowler	O	M	R	W
S M Pollock	20	7	53	3
M Hayward	17.1	3	61	3
L Klusener	14	4	38	1
J H Kallis	13	2	44	0
W J Cronje	5	3	15	0
P C Strydom	6	0	27	0

South Africa innings

Batsman			Runs	Balls	4s	6s
Extras	b lb w nb
TOTAL:	wkts, overs

England innings

Batsman			Runs	Balls	4s	6s
Extras	b lb w nb
TOTAL:	wkts, overs

South Africa first innings

Batsman			Runs	Balls	4s	6s
G Kirsten	c Adams	b Gough	0	7	-	-
HH Gibbs	c Adams	b Caddick	3	21	-	-
JH Kallis		b Caddick	25	61	2	1
DJ Cullinan	c &	b Mullally	46	91	5	-
WJ Cronje	c Maddy	b Gough	0	6	-	-
PC Strydom	c Stewart	b Silverwood	30	41	5	-
L Klusener		not out	61	96	7	1
SM Pollock		run out	30	64	3	-
MV Boucher		b Mullally	22	48	4	-
PR Adams		not out	4	8	1	-
Extras	2b 11lb 3w 11nb		27
TOTAL:	8 wkts, 72 overs		248

Fall of wickets: 1-1 (1 Kirsten, 3 mins), 2-15 (14 Gibbs, 31 mins), 3-50 (35 Kallis, 90 mins), 4-55 (5 Cronje, 7 mins), 5-102 (47 Strydom, 59 mins), 6-136 (34 Cullinan, 37 mins), 7-196 (60 Pollock, 74 mins), 8-243 (47 Boucher, 57 mins) Did not bat: M Hayward

Bowler	O	M	R	W
D Gough	20	2	92	2
A R Caddick	19	7	47	2
A D Mullally	24	10	42	2
C E W Silverwood	7	1	45	1
M P Vaughan	2	0	9	0

England won the toss and decided to field

Umpires: R E Koertzen, D B Hair

South Africa
G Kirsten , H H Gibbs , J H Kallis , D J Cullinan , W J Cronje (capt) , P C Strydom , L Klusener , S M Pollock , M V Boucher (wkt) , M Hayward , P R Adams ,

England
M A Butcher , M A Atherton , N Hussain (capt) , M P Vaughan , A J Stewart (wkt) , C J Adams , D L Maddy , A R Caddick , D Gough , C E W Silverwood , A D Mullally ,