Cricket: England failed in their rescue mission at Headingley as the South Africa pace attack sent them crashing to a 10-wicket defeat and a 1-0 deficit in the npower series.
Michael Vaughan's men began the day with eight wickets intact and requiring to bat the majority of the final six sessions to save the match - as it transpired they could not manage three.
A late cameo from Stuart Broad, whose unbeaten 67 was crammed with classic strokes, meant England avoided the ignominy of a first innings defeat on home soil for five years but the result had long been a formality.
When the last-wicket stand of 61 with shock debutant Darren Pattinson was terminated by a full delivery from Morne Morkel, it left the South Africans with a victory target of just nine, which was achieved from only seven balls in evening sunshine.
Although there were glimmers of hope, the brightest provided in the morning session by Alastair Cook and nightwatchman James Anderson, they proved fleeting.
A couple of Andrew Flintoff blows to the boundary, during a two-tone innings of 38, even got people giddy enough to dream of a Bothamesque repeat of heroics here against the Australians in 1981.
Had it not been the 27th anniversary of Ian Botham's unbeaten Ashes 149, the thought should not have come into their heads.
Yet it was the man left at the other end when Flintoff took one swish outside off stump too many to Morkel, Broad, who looked the real class act with the bat as he clipped and guided 11 boundaries in a 60-ball stay.
But the debilitating effects of four wickets falling for 43 runs either side of lunch were the most decisive actions in spiralling England to a first defeat in seven Tests.
Their marathon bid to stave off defeat began positively when, having begun on 50 for two, the third-wicket pair of Cook and Anderson resisted for 15 minutes short of two hours.
The Leeds crowd put aside all Roses rivalry to cheer Anderson's spirited contribution at every opportunity.
Having failed to find a breakthrough with speed, South Africa captain Graeme Smith turned to spinner Paul Harris for the first time in the match, for the 38th over of the innings.
The change of pace was welcomed by Anderson, however, as he twice found the offside boundary in the left-armer's fourth over.
A back-foot punch was reminiscent of a genuine top-order batsman and it was followed by a front-foot drive, which took him to 28.
His innings was as impressive for its bravery as its strokeplay, however, as he received two significant blows from Dale Steyn in the next over - both of which left him requiring treatment.
The first from a Steyn bouncer from round the wicket cracked him on the right wrist.
The second immediately upon resumption saw Anderson duck into another delivery, which struck him on the side of the helmet grille and floored him, after misjudging the length somewhat.
Although it was the nastier of the two impacts, causing a change of headgear, it was the first that may have lasting damage, with Anderson's right wrist strapped after his dismissal, and his presence in the third Test at Edgbaston now dependent on the diagnosis of the injury.
Prior to the working over, South Africa's only clear-cut opportunity to send back Anderson came via a potential run-out.
It came in the ninth over when the Lancastrian bowler dropped into the off-side off Makhaya Ntini and called for one - he actually got five as Dale Steyn's throw, which would have dismissed him had it been a direct hit, evaded the stumps and raced to the ropes.
However, Anderson's working over contributed to his departure for a Test-best 34 when Steyn followed up with a full one, and when Kevin Pietersen perished in the next over, South Africa's grip strengthened.
It was Jacques Kallis who halted Pietersen's mini-counter with one that attracted a nibble outside off stump and the same bowler eventually sent back Cook, who squirted a full delivery high to short cover, having dedicated 60 overs to his 60 runs.
In between, Ian Bell climbed into a cut at the lanky Morkel, only to be brilliantly caught - one-handed diving away to his right - by AB de Villiers in the gully.
Any further delay to England's defeat - following a debilitating deficit of 319 - appeared to firmly rest with Flintoff and wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose.
Flintoff, playing his first Test for 18 months and wearing one of Chris Tremlett's larger shirts in preference to his own for comfort, arrived at the crease with England 152 for six.
He and Ambrose, who spent 40 minutes on nought, combined in a determined rearguard.
Their partnership had just begun to flourish in fact when Steyn profited from Ambrose's loose cut in the seventh over with the new ball.
It was the Flintoff of old for the next quarter of an hour as he boomed fours off the front foot.
But the sweetest striking was that of Broad who, unflustered by the loss of number 10 Monty Panesar to Steyn, pierced the field on both sides of the wicket to reach his third Test half-century this summer off just 41 balls.
His latest effort took his fledgling career average to 41, the same as top-order players Vaughan and Andrew Strauss, and allowed Pattinson some glory of his own - the first of two heaves over mid-on for four off Harris putting England briefly in credit.
But any hope of taking the match into a final day went moments later when Australian-raised Pattinson had his stumps rearranged - and the Proteas openers ended proceedings soon after.