That was Mike Atherton’s verdict on the decider to a Test series that caught the national imagination and culminated in a battle for the ages in Leeds

When Donald roared but Cork had the last laugh

When England last won a Test series at home to South Africa, the Spin wasn’t even a glint in the Guardian’s eye. Life was pretty different in 1998: cricket was on the BBC, there was no DRS and elite sport was still a place where male hormones could run riot. England’s 2-1 win over South Africa was less a Test series, more a testosterone series; an unyielding arm-wrestle between two tough yet fragile sides with more in common than they would ever admit at the time.

Any recap of the series focuses on the contest between Mike Atherton and Allan Donald at Trent Bridge in 1998. Quite right, too: it was as good as sport gets. Yet that sometimes obscures what followed, a captivating dogfight in the series decider at Headingley. “It was the nastiest, most ill-tempered match that I have ever played in,” wrote Atherton in his autobiography, “and throughout it was clear that neither side had much regard for the other.”

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It was not entirely edifying, but the Spin loved every minute of it. Passive aggression and hold-me-back posturing have replaced the authentic needle that could make 20th-century sport so compelling. It’s surely possible to appreciate controversy and aggro without turning into Danny Dyer. It rouses players to great performances, it heightens the experience of supporting your team. And the sight of grown men losing their rag will always be very, very funny.

England had no right to be playing a series decider. They were thrashed in the second Test at Lord’s and held on nine wickets down to draw the third at Old Trafford. They squared the series with a deceptively uncomfortable eight-wicket win at Trent Bridge, where Atherton withstood Donald’s furious assault, which meant it was 1-1 going into the final Test at Headingley.

Time takes the edge off past experiences. Youthful heartbreak becomes cute and nostalgic, exams were never important anyway, and a series decider against South Africa 19 years ago is just detail in the pages of Wisden. Yet at the start of August 1998, the South Africa series was England’s world entire – a chance to win a major Test series for the first time in 12 years, and to put cricket on the front pages. It meant just as much to South Africa, who were desperate for victory in England after blowing a lead in 1994. Both sides didn’t want to win; they ached to win.

South Africa were a bloody difficult side, easily the best of the rest after Australia, but they had a burgeoning reputation for choking. In his wonderful autobiography, White Lightning, Donald evokes the tension at their team meeting the night before. “I looked across at big Brian McMillan, who was brought back for his first Test of the series, and he was very quiet, not even having a beer.”

McMillan was part of a five-man seam attack that is almost a who’s who of modern South African cricket: Donald, Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini, Jacques Kallis and McMillan would end their careers with 1,507 Test wickets between them, although in 1998 only Donald and Pollock were at their peak.

Ticket sales for the match exceeded £1m. There was no Olympics that summer and the Premier League season hadn’t started, so cricket was the big news. “It was great fun turning up to a Test where the whole country was talking about it,” said Nasser Hussain. Then the match started. “It was hell,” he said in his autobiography. “I can’t remember sleeping much.”

England started well, with Mark Butcher elegantly wasting the South African attack to reach a maiden Test century full of handsome drives. “He struck 18 fours in his 116, some of them apparently hit for sheer pleasure without a thought for survival,” said Wisden. However, the controversial dismissal of Mark Ramprakash – caught behind when the ball seemed to bounce in front of Mark Boucher – sparked a miserable collapse from 181 for three to 230 all out. Apart from Butcher, nobody reached 25. Hussain and a young Andrew Flintoff, who would get a pair in his second Test, also had reason to be aggrieved by their dismissals.

Most felt England had blown it. Atherton recalls Darren Gough marching into the England dressing-room at the end of the day to proffer an alternative analysis. “Fuck me, it’s like a morgue in here,” he said. “I’ll lay anybody money we get a first-innings lead tomorrow.” In the South African dressing-room, Donald, who had again bowled majestically, felt uneasy. “I looked around the guys and wondered yet again who really fancied it at this stage of a hard series,” he said. “We soon found out.”

South Africa couldn’t get away from England on the second day. A late burst of wickets from the heroic Angus Fraser – who took his third consecutive five-for the day before his 33rd birthday – restricted them to 252 all out, a lead of 22. “Gus,” said the captain Alec Stewart, “has got a heart the size of the biggest thing you can think of.” With Flintoff then no more than a promising change bowler and Ian Salisbury not really trusted, England effectively had a three-man attack of Fraser, Gough and Dominic Cork – not just in the match, but in the series. They took 59 of the 65 wickets to fall to England bowlers. (England’s spinners, Robert Croft, Ashley Giles, Ramprakash and Salisbury had combined figures of one for 440.)

There was more controversy, with Gary Kirsten and Donald wrongly given out LBW. By now there was all kinds of scrutiny on the umpires, Peter Willey and the Pakistani Javed Akhtar. “Everyone was appealing for anything because we had lost confidence in the umpires, especially Akhtar,” said Donald. “It was every man for himself.” The paranoia compounded an already unpleasant mood. “England really climbed into us,” said Donald, “and the aggro was worse than any match I’ve ever known against Australia, the disciples of hard cricket.”

Boucher was alleged to have racially abused Butcher, leading to a rollocking from Donald – “You’re a South African, representing a new country, the old ways have gone for good, go and find Butcher and apologise” – while Ramprakash’s attempted joke about Christians being eaten by the Lions went down extremely badly with the religious players in the South Africa side, particularly Jonty Rhodes.

The third day started dreadfully for England, with the talismanic Atherton wrongly given out LBW to the first ball from Donald, a kind of karmic payback for his reprieve in the previous Test. Hussain, so often at his best on bad wickets, gritted his way through the rest of the day to make 83 not out. The wicket of Ramprakash just before the close gave South Africa an in, but they were still in big trouble: on a spicy pitch, England led by 184 with six wickets remaining.

By now Donald’s ankle was full of cortisone and he could barely feel his legs. He sat in the bath and told the team’s assistant coach that after bowling nearly 250 overs in the series, he had nothing left to give. The following morning he went to the well one last time and produced a brilliant spell of 9.2-5-14-4. It showcased both his brawn and brain – he had Graeme Hick and Flintoff caught off slower balls – and sparked an England collapse from 206 for four to 240 all out. (England, striving doggedly for consistency, lost their last six wickets for 34 in both innings.) Donald finished with eight wickets in the match and 33 at 19.78 in a magnificent personal series.

The players on both sides were leaving bits of their soul all over the Headingley pitch. When Hussain was out for 94, he was so distraught that he walked off with his batting glove covering his eyes, oblivious to a standing ovation from the crowd. As he left the field he punched the boundary rail – not because he had failed to reach a hundred, but because he knew another 50 runs would have made England safe.

It was nonetheless an immense innings, spread over 341 balls and 421 minutes. “This is an impatient age, weaned on instant entertainment,” wrote our own David Hopps, who must love the world now if he felt like that in 1998, “but England won a Test series because a man toiled for more than seven hours for 94.”

South Africa were left chasing 219 to win the series. The match took another twist when Gough, Fraser and umpire Akhtar reduced them to 27 for five. At least one and possibly three of the South Africans had reason to be aggrieved. When Hansie Cronje was given out caught behind off the pad – a mistake from Willey rather than Akhtar – he walked off smiling sarcastically. Gerhardus Liebenberg, who concluded a desperate personal series (59 runs at 9.83) with a dodgy LBW, hurled his bat and helmet at the dressing-room wall.

Rhodes, who never batted better than on that trip, launched a chipper counter-attack, supported by McMillan, an underrated, grizzly bear of an all-rounder who got high on conflict. He was Rambo with a solid forward defensive. The pair batted beautifully to take South Africa’s target below 100. With Pollock and Boucher still to come, they were now favourites. Salisbury could no longer be risked after bowling eight overs for 34, and England were running out of options.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Allan Donald and Mike Atherton exchange pleasantries during their infamous exchange in the fourth Test at Trent Bridge. The bad blood between the teams continued at Headingley. Photograph: David Munden/Popperfoto/Getty Images

Hussain suggested bringing back Cork to bowl bouncers and pick a fight with McMillan. A year before he became England captain, this was Hussain’s first masterstroke. The duel began just before tea, and the two exchanged unpleasantries as they walked off. McMillan suggested, in not entirely polite terms, that the majority of what came out of Cork’s mouth had not been appropriately filtered through his brain. “Yeah big nose,” replied Cork, “let’s see how you go after tea.”

McMillan was a beast of a man, with the kind of hands that could crush a human head. On this day, his masculinity was his downfall. Cork got in his face and then in his head, challenging him repeatedly with the short ball and the big mouth. There was none of the nobility of Atherton v Donald and little of the quality, yet McMillan v Cork was just as important to the series outcome.

Cork had heard that McMillan used to be in biker gangs in Johannesburg. Most would have taken this as a warning to keep extremely quiet. “Come on Brian, you’re a biker,” said Cork, “but if you’re a really big man I’ll bowl a bouncer and you’ll hit me out of the park.” McMillan was suckered into a hook and top-edged it straight to Stewart. “I couldn’t believe,” said Donald, “that a man of his experience was conned out by a blusterer like Cork.” Even before the ball had been caught, Cork was triumphantly clenching his first in McMillan’s face. McMillan’s internal monologue at that precise moment is surely one of the great pieces of lost comedy. He still hadn’t got over it the next day when, according to Gough, he went looking for Cork “to offer something more than a congratulatory handshake”.

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Rhodes fell to Gough for a tremendous 85, and the dismissal of Boucher soon after brought Donald to the crease with 44 needed and two wickets remaining. England’s bowlers were tiring, but Cork’s mouth was still in full working order. When he hit Donald in the chest with a short ball he shouted, “Look at the big fella now!” Donald, who like most of the South Africans thought Cork’s talk:walk ratio left a lot to be desired, growled in his face “Fuck off! You’re the big fucking pretender, let’s see how you go!”

Donald and Pollock, who was batting beautifully, took South Africa to within 34 of victory by the scheduled close. An extra half-hour was possible if one side claimed it and the umpires agreed a result was possible. England were desperate to get off the field. Fraser’s back had gone, Gough was suffering with stomach cramps and Cork had bowled a long spell. Salisbury was about to come back into the attack. South Africa dithered, unsure of the rules, and Stewart took advantage by marching off the field. When Donald and Pollock belatedly tried to object, Stewart brusquely announced, “Keep walking, we’ll come back tomorrow.” Paul Adams, the 12th man, had been too slow getting on the field with a message from Cronje to carry on.

For the players of both sides, the night of Sunday 9 August was like a twisted Christmas Eve, a cocktail of impatience, hope, expectation and a whole heap of fear. Hussain had a few rum and cokes to try to help him sleep; he still woke up at 5am. Fraser had an injection in his back. Gough was physically sick on the hard shoulder of the M1 and spent large parts of the evening on the toilet before he was given sleeping pills and Imodium. Atherton’s stomach cramps were even more severe – he went to hospital on the Monday morning and heard the result in a taxi on the way back to the ground.

Gough still felt dreadful when he walked on to the field for his warm-up. Then he heard the roar, from 10,000 people who had taken advantage of free entry and the chance to see England win a major series, and felt a rush of medicinal adrenaline. “I’ve never experienced a lift like it.”

It took 28 minutes for England to win the series. Donald was caught behind off Fraser, and then Gough trapped Ntini leg-before. This has always been perceived as another dodgy decision. That may have been the case in 1998, when players were infrequently given out on the front foot, but in 2017 it looks stone dead. England won by 23 runs and Gough finished with six for 42 – his best Test figures, to win a series on his home ground.

England won seven Test series in the 1990s: four against New Zealand, two at home to an India team that was hopeless overseas, and this. It stood out a mile. Although South Africa were starting to cement their contradictory reputation as hard-nosed chokers, they were still a tremendous side. They responded to the defeat in England by winning 10 of their next 11 Test series, and in the first decade after readmission they lost only two series against sides other than Australia. It felt like a breakthrough for English cricket; nobody knew that, a year later, they would be residing at Rock Bottom. In the Guardian, Paul Weaver said it was “a glorious reaffirmation of the summer game and a reminder of the importance of a winning side. If England had lost … well it is too awful to contemplate”.

England’s celebrations were compromised by a decision to allow cameras into the dressing room, which some of the players resented. Soon the cameras went and the private party started. They left a 20-minute voicemail for the injured Graham Thorpe and called Robert Croft, whose batting had saved the third Test and kept England in the series. Some of the England players missed the ensuing all-day session – the Lancashire pair of Atherton and Flintoff, for example, had to fly to Southampton for a NatWest Trophy semi-final – but the rest celebrated in an appropriate manner. Most of them, anyway; Gough was still so ill that he couldn’t drink champagne.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest England celebrate at Headingley after winning the fifth Test by 23 runs and the series 2-1, having trailed 1-0 with two to play. Photograph: David Munden/Popperfoto/Getty Images

England’s win, though ultimately deserved, felt like a bit of a heist. South Africa dominated the first three-quarters of the series and finished it with an average of 35 runs per wicket – six more than England. They raged with impotent frustration at the result, particularly because of the umpiring. They paid the team their full win bonus of £2,700 each, though the UCBSA managing director Dr Ali Bacher later said that was as a reward for playing 16 Tests in 10 months rather than the perception of a moral victory.

Bacher later told the King Commission – set up after Cronje was exposed as a match-fixer – that he had been told Akhtar was bribed by a bookmaker. Akhtar denied it and sued for libel, Bacher ignored the summons to Pakistan and the whole thing petered out. The Bhandari Commission, set up in Pakistan to investigate match-fixing, later cleared Akhtar of any wrongdoing. (There was a strange postscript at the 1999 World Cup: Akhtar’s errant umpiring was one of the reasons for England’s elimination at the group stage. Had England gone through instead of Zimbabwe, South Africa would have finished above Australia at the Super Six stage and therefore would have gone through when their epic semi-final ended in a tie.)

“The inescapable fact is that we bottled it,” said Donald. “No amount of complaints about umpires would alter that. Judged by the highest standards, we failed.”

Donald was the tragic hero of the series – the champion who ended up on the losing side. He so nearly won the third, fourth and fifth Tests for South Africa. In the third at Old Trafford, with South Africa one wicket away from a 2-0 lead, he speared an inswinging yorker into the pad of Fraser. As he launched into an appeal, Donald thought, “That’ll do!”. In this series, it was unwise to make any assumptions about the umpiring.

When Ntini was dismissed at Headingley, a numb Donald sat for 30 seconds before dragging himself from his catatonia to shake hands with all the England players. “There was nothing more to give, nothing else to be said.”

• This is an extract taken from The Spin, the Guardian’s weekly cricket email. To subscribe, just visit this page and follow the instructions.