Cricket: HUSSAIN'S YORKIE STARS!; Vaughan and Gough lead the way as brilliant England crush the West Indies in two days.

AS the People's Republic of Yorkshire celebrated a landslide victory last night, the public opinion polls were unanimous: Darren Gough for president.

At precisely 5.10pm, 16,000 of Gough's Headingley constituents swarmed across one of Test cricket's most notorious minefields to acclaim Dazza's manifesto for the restoration of English cricket's reputation.

They cheered England captain Nasser Hussain to the rafters, they agreed with Sir Vivian Richards' choice of Michael Vaughan as man-of-the-match and they hailed Andy Caddick's amazing burst of 5-5 in 15 balls when the West Indies' second innings crumbled.

But there is only one pied piper in this parish, and at the presentation ceremony the masses demanded a glimpse of their idol.

"We want Goughie," they chanted, and the Barmy Army's darling duly appeared on the balcony to address his subjects.

It was Gough's burst of 4-8 in 29 balls which destroyed the Windies as they chased exactly 100 to make England bat again.Although the tourists just limped past their 54 all out at Lord's, this time their resistance lasted two balls fewer.

Gough said: "It's really special to win a Test and bowl like that on your home ground because the pressure is always on me to perform here.

"Earlier in my England career, certain people said I got carried away here.

"But I took nine wickets when we beat South Africa at Headingley in 1998 and I enjoyed my new-ball spell here again today.

"Say what you like about the pitch, but we bowled out a team including the world record holder with high-quality swing bowling."

England's triumph by an innings and 39 runs in the Fourth Cornhill Test wasn't just the latest instalment of a sensational summer.

At start of play, it was the Windies who were favourites to go to The Oval 2-1 up on Thursday week.

Resuming 67 runs adrift and with the top five all gone, England could easily have subsided into a damaging first-innings deficit.

But this time, they didn't bottle it. Instead they called International Rescue and Vaughan - nicknamed Virgil in the Yorkshire dressing room after pilot Virgil Tracy from the cult TV puppet show Thunderbirds - picked up the Mayday distress signal.

Nightwatchman Andy Caddick set the tone by resisting for nearly half an hour. Then Vaughan dug deep to swing the match back inexorably in England's favour.

Before you could say "Thunderbirds are go", Vaughan and Graeme Hick had added 98 in 25 overs with an object lesson in dynamic running between the wickets and judicious shot selection.

Vaughan looked miffed to miss out on a century when he nibbled at Curtly Ambrose's second delivery with the second new ball after 196 minutes of memorable defiance.

But as forgiveness rained down on him from 16,500 adoring Yorkies, Vaughan had no reason to chastise himself for producing his highest Test score when his country needed it most. If he can add a big hundred to his phlegmatic temperament, we could be looking at the next England captain here.

As for Hick, too often the black sheep of England's flock, an unqualified apology is in order.

Batting down at No.8 for the first time in his life, he performed like a man with 111 first-class hundreds to his name.

Nine years ago, Hick was traumatised by the Windies' pace attack during his maiden Test series and the poor chap has suffered an insecurity complex ever since.

But this time he didn't mince, he didn't wince - and he played with real authority.

There are few better sights in English cricket than Hick crashing a cover drive to the boundary or carving a long hop with that lavish follow-through.

By the time he wandered half way down the pitch, wafted at Jimmy Adams' innocuous left-arm spin and was stumped by the length of a snooker table, Hick had steered his side into a 50-run lead and turned a crisis into a pageant.

His 59 included seven boundaries, all of them as crisp as a freshly-minted tenner, off just 95 balls.

Vaughan carried England into a 100-run lead, which soon looked unassailable as the Windies were sensationally ambushed by Gough.

Adrian Griffith lost his off stump first ball to a tasty inswinger and Wavell Hinds - earlier the culprit of a ghastly dropped catch - dawdled across his stumps and was palpably lbw from the next delivery. Scenting the second hat-trick of his Test career - the other was in Sydney two winters ago - Gough welcomed Brian Lara to the party by crowding everyone round the bat.

Lara blocked the hat-trick ball safely enough, but in a match where nearly all the heroics have been privatised by Yorkies, Gough soon castled him for the fourth time this summer.Master-blaster Lara angrily whacked the perimeter advertising boards on his way out after being given out lbw, shouldering arms, twice inside 24 hours.

Kiwi umpire Doug Cowie's decision looked debatable, but Lara had only himself to blame as Dazza - 3-5 in 10 balls at that stage - was mobbed by his team-mates and worshipped by his home crowd.

That made it 11-3 and soon Gough's fan club was in full cry again as Sherwin Campbell dabbed gingerly outside off stump and Hick clung magnificently to a sharp chance at second slip.

At 21-4, rampant England were heading for the first Test victory inside two days since Australia wiped the floor with New Zealand in Wellington 55 years ago.

Then came Caddick's four-wicket blitz in six balls to seal the most remarkable England win at Leeds since Ian Botham turned the summer of 1981 on its head.

In 20 years, I suspect you'll recall the vintage summer of 2000 with just as much affection.

SCOREBOARD

WEST INDIES.- First inns: 172 (Sarwan 59 not; White 5-57, Gough 3-59). Second Innings Campbell c Hick b Gough..........................12 Griffith b Gough........................................0 Hinds lbw b Gough....................................0 Lara lbw b Gough.....................................2 Adams b Cork.........................................19 Sarwan not out.......................................17 Jacobs lbw b Caddick.................................1 McLean b Caddick.....................................0 Ambrose b Caddick....................................0 King b Caddick.........................................0 Walsh b Caddick.......................................3 Extras (lb3 nb4).....................................7 Total (26.2 overs).............................61 Fall: 1-3, 2-3, 3-11, 4-21, 5-49, 6-52, 7-52, 8-52, 9-53. Bowling: Gough 10-3-30-4; Caddick 11.2-5- 14-5; Cork 5-0-14-1.

ENGLAND.- First Innings Overnight:105-5 Atherton c Lara b Ambrose.........................6 Trescothick c Lara b Ambrose......................1 Hussain lbw b Walsh................................22 Thorpe lbw b Walsh.................................46 Stewart c Campbell b Walsh.......................5 Vaughan c Jacobs b Ambrose....................76 Caddick c Jacobs b Ambrose.......................6 Hick st Jacobs b Adams............................59 White c Jacobs b McLean...........................0 Cork not out...........................................11 Gough c Griffith b Walsh............................2 Extras (b4 lb13 w3 nb18).....................38 Total (81.5ov).................................272 Fall: 1-7, 2-10, 3-80, 4-93, 5-96, 6-124, 7- 222, 8-224, 9-269. Bowling: Ambrose 18-3-42-4; Walsh 24.5-9- 51-4; King 11-2-48-0; McLean 22-5-93-1; Adams 6-1-21-1. FIFTH TEST: Aug 31 The Oval.

CADDICK'S KILLER OVER

THIS is the remarkable over that set up England for their first two-day Test victory since 1912.

Andy Caddick tore the heart out of the Windies batting line-up in the space of just nine breath-taking minutes. Caddick's amazing performance was the first time an England bowler had taken four wickets in a Test over since Chris Old blasted through the Pakistan tail at Edgbaston in 1978.. and he even included a no-ball!

W . W W . NB W