South Africa won the second Test by 10 wickets yesterday, after bowling England out for 327 in their second innings and then hitting the nine runs required for victory on the fourth day.
England resumed at 50-2 overnight and needed to bat for at least five more sessions to save the game, but managed less than three. South Africa, who dominated the Test from the first session of day one, took a 1-0 lead in the series.
"We knew if we got things right we could put England under pressure and we have done that over the last few day,'' South Africa captain Graeme Smith said.
"It was our job to outplay England and we did that.''
England started the final session 182-6, still 137 runs short of making South Africa bat again. Andrew Flintoff and wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose briefly threatened to extend the game into the fifth day until Ambrose was caught behind off Dale Steyn for 36.
Caught
Flintoff was then caught by Jacques Kallis at slip off Morne Morkel for 38.
Monty Panesar made 10 before being bowled by Dale Steyn, before Stuart Broad livened up the Headingley crowd with a quick-fire 50 to make South Africa bat again. Broad put on 61 with Darren Pattinson for the last wicket but it was only delaying the inevitable as Pattinson was eventually bowled by Morkel to wrap up the innings.
"The bowling performance was outstanding,'' Smith said. "We created pressure and England played a bit frantically in the first innings and offered our bowlers chances.''
South Africa openers Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzie took just 1.1 overs to knock off the nine runs required to seal victory.
South Africa wicketkeeper Mark Boucher took nine catches in the game, while Ashwell Prince was named man-of-the-match for his first-innings hundred.
"The 203 was not a big enough score in the first innings. As a batting unit we did not bat well enough," England captain Michael Vaughan said. "We played like millionaires on Friday afternoon and that's why we didn't get the runs we needed.''
Lost two wickets
Earlier, England lost two wickets for 52 runs in the afternoon session to add to the two it lost in the morning. Resuming after lunch on 130-4, England lost Ian Bell for 4 when he was brilliantly caught by A.B. de Villiers at gully off the bowling of Morne Morkel with 10 runs added.
Alastair Cook spooned a catch to Hashim Amla off Jacques Kallis to depart for 60, as England slipped to 152-6 midway through the session. England lost night watchman James Anderson (34) and the vital wicket of Kevin Pietersen for the addition of 80 runs in the opening session.