By Jonathan Agnew BBC cricket correspondent at Headingley

Any chance of an historic England victory was snuffed out by the second ball of the final morning when Mark Butcher edged Jacques Kallis to Andrew Hall at first slip.

England were on a slippery slope once Flintoff had gone

Hopes were raised when Butcher flicked the opening delivery through square leg for four - mirroring precisely Sunday's first ball that set South Africa on their way.

But there was no repeat because Kallis knew where to put the ball, and he went on to take three wickets in his first three overs of the day.

Flintoff followed Butcher, but this time it was not Freddie's fault. He received a snorter from Kallis that swung and bounced, flicking the outside edge en route and, once again, it was Hall who snaffled the chance.

Flintoff had made exactly 50, and England were 182 for 7.

Not surprisingly, the tail surrendered meekly as England lost their last five wickets for 44 runs in 11.4 overs.

Kallis finished with 6-54, and match figures of 9-92, his best in Test cricket.

So where do England go from here?

Nasser Hussain has a broken toe, and must be extremely doubtful for the final Test.

This probably hands Ed Smith a reprieve at number five, and will start a debate in cricketing circles about whether or not Graham Thorpe should be recalled.

News of Hussain's broken toe added to England's gloom

Certainly there appears to be no cricketing argument against that, and the decision will indicate how the selectors see Thorpe's long-term future.

Andrew Strauss is a promising young player who will be discussed, but with England needing to win to level the series, the preference is likely to be to go for experience.

And what about the bowling? It was woeful here, and has been poor for the majority of the summer.

There is precious little opportunity for the bowlers to find any meaningful practice between now and then - but even if there were, it is not guaranteed that the England management would ask them to play.

The question of allowing the bowlers too much rest has been the most glaring error of the summer, and England's problems began at the first Test when an out-of-form James Anderson bowled poorly and lost confidence.

His place at The Oval must also be in jeopardy as England search for three seam bowlers who, with Andrew Flintoff, can apply the basics and bowl in the right place.