South Africa's greatest victory of all

Down the years, England have suffered many butcherings at Lord's, more often than not at the hands of Australia. But surely there has never been a defeat quite so significant as this.

It is not the size of South Africa's victory that will hurt England - Andrew Flintoff's wonderful innings did at least cook the record-books a fraction. It is the sideshows and subplots that matter. In little more than a week, one proud and combative team has been all but obliterated, while another - supposedly brittle - unit has become more powerful than anyone dared imagine. For Graeme Smith and his magnificent men, the sky is the limit. For England, their uncertainty in the middle is as nothing compared to the chaos in their camp.

If the speculation is to be believed, the end of the road for some of England's finest servants is just around the corner. Nasser Hussain, Alec Stewart and Darren Gough are the three of the five men who have fought tirelessly for England in some pretty bloody times. The other two are Michael Atherton, who retired in 2001, and Graham Thorpe, who will surely be hurried back to stop the bleeding in next week's third Test. It is an irony that will not be lost on his old comrades.

According to his column in a Sunday newspaper, Nasser Hussain timed his resignation (less than a week ago, can you believe it?) to prevent Michael Vaughan being drowned in speculation ahead of his maiden Test as captain. Sadly, after that flaccid display on the first day of the match, Vaughan has spent longer preparing for his first defeat than he was given to plot his first victory. If success breeds success, then how devastated must he be feeling tonight?

The tragedy is the speed with which England's edifice of invincibility has crumbled. Andrew Flintoff's sombre celebration of his century today spoke volumes. He may have proved that the patient has a pulse after all, but until last Thursday, that same patient had been larging it on the dancefloor. All the same, Flintoff's was a gem of a performance. Granted, it was made in circumstances not dissimilar to Chris Lewis's false dawn at Madras in 1992-93, but Flintoff's bristling fury was plain to see. This was not a situation he was prepared to take lightly.

While England gaze at their collective navels this evening, South Africa will quite justifiably be celebrating the greatest victory in their history. Once again, it is the context that matters, not the content. Even Bangladesh would have given England a run for their money on days one to three, but the enormity of the achievement stands alone.

In Graeme Smith, South Africa have unearthed a true hero, a man who once and for all can purge the country of its embarrassing obsession with Hansie Cronje. The man was selected for precisely that reason, to stride forward with a clean record, and his self-assurance has been infectious. But it is Makhaya Ntini's performance that will have the whole of South Africa drooling. He has been on the brink of something special for several months now, but what more glorious stage could a black South African choose to make his mark than Lord's?

As the Man-of-the-Match adjudicators recognised, South Africa have been utterly united from the first ball of this Test series, and the memories of what they have achieved will live on forever.