‘The nastiest match I ever played in’: England v South Africa, Headingley 1998 | Rob Smyth

Jul 04, 2017

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 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.

Tags: Cricket England cricket team South Africa cricket team Sport