Chris Silverwood and Darren Gough became England's unlikely match-winners and completed a unique and historic victory over South Africa in the final Test.
The Yorkshire pair successfully hit the eight runs required off the final two overs to seal a dramatic two-wicket triumph with five balls remaining as the shadows lengthened over Centurion Park.
But their determined efforts were only possible after rival captains Nasser Hussain and Hansie Cronje adopted an adventurous approach and decided to contrive a positive result from a Test match badly affected by rain and seemingly heading for an inevitable stalemate.
Instead of resuming with South Africa on 155 for six in their first innings and playing out the day without any purpose and boring a crowd who had already sat through the previous three days without seeing any cricket, they began declaration negotiations more usually associated with county cricket.
The result was a day's cricket which is bound to offend the purists and traditionalists, but provided a thrilling spectacle for both spectators and players.
South Africa agreed to declare on 248 for eight to set England a target of 249 off 76 overs, a total which seemed generous initially but by the time play reached the last over either side could have claimed victory.
"I spent a lot of time last night thinking about it," revealed Cronje. "Test cricket needs to be seen that 22 players want to play and this morning when I arrived at the ground the feeling I got was that all the players wanted to play.
"Both sides could have won the Test match right at the end and that's what it's all about - I'm disappointed to have lost the Test but with seven balls to go we had a real chance of winning the game."
Indeed, but for England's perseverance and determination to finish a series already lost on a high, the hosts probably would have won but instead they suffered their first defeat in 15 Tests and the tourists ended an eight-Test run without a victory.
The architects of that victory were Alec Stewart, playing his final innings before flying home after being curiously overlooked for the forthcoming one-day series, and youngster Michael Vaughan.
They came together with England's victory hopes looking distant at best on 102 for four, with only Darren Maddy remaining from their recognised batsmen.
They added 126 in the next 32 overs to take England to the brink of a memorable victory, playing with patience, flair and not a little luck to heighten the already tense atmosphere before both fell as England lost four wickets in as many overs for just 22 runs.
That brought Gough and Silverwood, two players who have contributed just 65 runs in nine innings during the series, to the crease, and they steered England home.
Having accepted South Africa's invitation to chase the target, England suffered an edgy start by losing Michael Atherton, Mark Butcher and Hussain inside the opening 33 overs of their reply before Chris Adams nervously edged Mornantau Hayward behind to wicketkeeper Mark Boucher.
Stewart, though, arrived at the crease looking totally unlike the spent force many people had said he was at the start of the tour. Joined by Vaughan, who had not made a major score in the series, they progressed tentatively. However, events had already turned in their favour. Unorthodox left-arm spinner Paul Adams had already departed from the action after fracturing a finger attempting a diving stop on the boundary. As neither player had really mastered him during the winter, they could play the remainder of the attack with a degree of confidence.
Commenting on the unorthodox nature of the match, Cronje said: "If the ICC are unhappy then I want to get out of the game. What cricket is all about is having a full house and guys playing and entertaining - this was Test cricket at its best in my opinion."
