Cricket: The Ashes: ENGLAND PULL OFF GREATEST TEST VICTORY OF THEM ALL; Vaughan's men clinch vital thriller.

Byline: Mike Walters

QUITE simply, it was the closest finish in Ashes history and the greatest Test match of all time.

For gut-wrenching drama, none of England's 308 Tests against Australia had ever gone down to the wire like their sensational two-run win at Edgbaston yesterday. And nothing probably ever will.

At 12.10pm, wicketkeeper Geraint Jones dived to his left, scooped up the deflection off Aussie last man Mike Kasprowicz's glove and a nation erupted around its television sets.

In the outpouring of relief and celebration, Jones was lifted off his feet by Kevin Pietersen and bowler Steve Harmison was mobbed by joyous team-mates while the distraught Kasprowicz sank to his knees in abject despair.

And at the non-striker's end, Freddie Flintoff - the people's champion who did more than anyone to make this unforgettable white-knuckle ride possible - sportingly consoled undefeated tail-ender Brett Lee, whose 43 had brought Australia within one ball of a stupendous win.

For 61 minutes, last pair Kasprowicz and Lee chipped away at England's advantage after they had come together with 62 runs still needed.

Incredibly, they came even closer to pulling off an impossible triumph than Allan Border and Jeff Thomson, who could not prevent England winning by just three runs at Melbourne in 1982-3 after sharing a 70-run stand.

The Aussies, who began the day 107 runs away from their target of 282 with only two wickets in hand, looked as if they might sneak it when Simon Jones spilled a difficult chance at third man to reprieve Kasprowicz at 267-9.

But Harmison, whose brilliant 65mph slower ball had castled Michael Clarke on Saturday night to remove the last specialist batsman, held his nerve when the rest of us were losing our marbles.

Grievous Bodily Harmison dug in a rib-tickler, Kasprowicz couldn't get out of the way and Edgbaston went potty.

For sheer intensity and blood-curdling excitement, it was the most gripping climax to a sporting occasion imaginable. Penalty shoot-outs, extra-time drop goals, black-ball finishes in the last frame at the world snooker championship and photo finishes on the Olympic track or boating lake... this competes with them all.

Among England's Test victories since the miracle of Headingley in 1981, only the nail-biting run chases against the West Indies at Lord's or the dramatic win under moonlight in Karachi in 2000 have come close.

Drained England captain Michael Vaughan admitted it would have been beyond his side to come back from 2-0 down in the Ashes, but now anything is possible.

When everyone's pulse rate has returned to normal, let's be clear about one thing: England deserved to win.

They scored 407 after being put in, bowled magnificently to establish a 99-run lead and Flintoff's counter-attacks with bat and ball, as Australia threatened to turn the match on its head, were the stuff of pure legend.

Flintoff was chief culprit as England won the six count 19-2, he took seven wickets and Saturday's 73 was a colossal effort after he had suffered a suspected dislocated shoulder.

Nobody has produced a more complete all-round performance since Ian Botham's heyday. There were other England heroes, of course. Marcus Trescothick set the tone on Thursday with his early onslaught, Pietersen looked a million dollars again and Ashley Giles proved all his critics wrong.

But few would have thought at start of play yesterday that it would take 100 minutes for England to level the series.

Shane Warne, who finished on 599 Test wickets after returning match figures of 10-155, refused to follow the script and Australia's target had been trimmed by 45 runs in 40 minutes when he trod on his wicket. Stepping inside the line to a leg-side yorker from man-of-the-match Flintoff, Warne's back-heel was the best seen in this country since Denis Law relegated Manchester United with one in 1974.

It was a travesty that Warne should finish on the losing side. Yet for an hour Lee, who survived rasping blows on his elbow and hand from brutish Flintoff lifters, refused to accept the inevitable, and soon England's nervous twitch had become full-blown paranoia.

Surely England weren't going to do another passable impression of Devon Loch, just as they did in last summer's Champions Trophy final or at the 2003 World Cup in Port Elizabeth... were they?

In a rash of inside edges, leading edges and no-balls, the target was whittled down until the meter on Vaughan's Ashes challenge had all but ticked down to zero.

Then Kasprowicz fenced at Harmison's rib-tickler, and although TV replays suggested his bottom hand was off the bat handle at the point of impact - in which case he was unlucky to be given out by Kiwi umpire Billy Bowden - the ultimate sporting drama reached its heart-stopping climax.

Fasten your seatbelts, next stop is Manchester, Warne's