"Oh my goodness, what a finish," exclaimed Mike Selvey in The Guardian. "When a cricket crowd cheers the five-minute bell," added David Hopps in the same paper, "then it can be assumed that something remarkable is afoot." Something remarkable indeed. Not only did England's cricketers snatch a rollicking win in the dying minutes of the third Test, but, in a nation gripped by World Cup fever, they even snatched a mention on the outside pages of the tabloids.

"Our cricket heroes win Test thriller," trumpeted the front page of The Sun, rating the Old Trafford victory as their third-most important story of the day. Only a picture of David Beckham sucking a lollipop during Brazil's 2-0 victory over Belgium, and the latest on Britney's heartache ("I'm still hurting so much, but Hugh Grant is cute …") held sway.

The Mirror was even more generous with its column inches, devoting an eighth of the back page to England's latest "charge of the bad-light brigade". "Trescothick and Vaughan took the chequered flag at 7.36pm with six balls to spare," wrote Mike Walters, "in murkiness reminiscent of that astonishing victory under the Ramadan moonlight in Karachi 18 months ago."

It was an important moment for "the team the nation forgot", argued Mike Dickson in the Daily Mail. "Test cricket may not suit the attention span of the MTV generation," he wrote, "but it can still stir the soul in its own unique way." Only 2000 diehards witnessed England's gleeful run-chase, but as Trescothick and Vaughan took to the Sri Lankan bowling, "Old Trafford broke into the kind of patriotic chants that have been filling the nation's beer halls."

But if the final act was a cakewalk, it was only because of the hard toil put in by England's young gunslingers - a fact that Derek Pringle in the Daily Telegraph and Angus Fraser in The Independent, two men used to having batsmen stealing their limelight, were understandably keen to point out.

"Like the Irish midfield in Japan," wrote Pringle, "buckets of sweat were expended in the effort … Tudor, Hoggard and Flintoff provided the dynamite; Giles provided the scalpel."

"England's young fast bowlers banged away like heavyweight boxers," countered Fraser. "Hoggard was the jab, while Tudor and Flintoff threw the big right-handers."

Christopher Martin-Jenkins in The Times took a similar line, announcing that Tudor had come of age, Hoggard had risen to the challenge, and Flintoff's "boisterous competitiveness" had provided Hussain with a vital edge. Again, though, Giles came in for a special mention: "Derek Underwood and John Emburey apart," wrote CMJ, "no English spinner since the 1950s has given close fielders so little cause to fear for their safety."

Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan Daily News took a more militant line. "Sanath granted bail," read the front-page headline. Closer inspection revealed that the Sanath in question was a film star, Gunatilleke, rather than the hapless captain, Jayasuriya.

In the same paper, Sa'adi Thawfeeq was forgiving of Jayasuriya's captaincy in the final overs, but believed his place at the top of the order was under threat: "[Russel] Arnold at least has proved that the opener's slot is the place for him, and Jayasuriya must consider his options of batting lower down the order after Marvan Atapattu returns to the side from injury."

But for English sport, the day was yet another highpoint in a heady fortnight. "A scrambled leg-bye in front of a couple of thousand spectators with an over to go may not be quite the same as a golden goal, or a penalty shoot-out in Asia," wrote Fraser, "but when five days of effort from 22 players comes to such a tense and dramatic conclusion it provides memories that those in attendance will never forget."

Andrew Miller is editorial assistant of Wisden.com

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