England failed in its rescue mission at Headingley as the South African pace attack sent it crashing to a 10-wicket defeat and a 1-0 deficit in the three-Test series.
Michael Vaughan's men began the day with eight wickets intact and requiring to bat the majority of the final six sessions to save the match - as it transpired they could not manage three.
A late cameo from Stuart Broad, whose unbeaten 67 was crammed with classical strokes, meant England avoided the ignominy of a first innings defeat on home soil for five years but the result had long been a formality.
When the last-wicket stand of 61, with shock debutant Darren Pattinson, was terminated by a full delivery from Morne Morkel, it left the South Africans with a victory target of nine, which was achieved from only seven balls in evening sunshine.
Although there were glimmers of hope, the brightest provided in the morning session by Alastair Cook and nightwatchman James Anderson, they proved fleeting.
A couple of Andrew Flintoff blows to the boundary, during a two-tone innings of 38, even got the Sky Sports commentary team giddy enough to dream of a Bothamesque repeat of heroics here against the Australians in 1981.
Had it not been the 27th anniversary of Ian Botham's unbeaten Ashes 149, the thought should not have come into their heads.
Yet it was the man left at the other end when Flintoff took one swish outside off-stump too many to Morkel, Broad, who looked the real class act with the bat as he clipped and guided 11 boundaries in a 60-ball stay.
But the debilitating effects of four wickets falling for 43 runs either side of lunch were the most decisive actions in spiralling England to a first defeat in seven Tests.
Its marathon bid to stave off defeat began positively when, having begun on 2-50, the third-wicket pair of Cook and Anderson resisted for 15 minutes short of two hours.
The Leeds crowd put aside all Roses rivalry to cheer Anderson's spirited contribution at every opportunity.
Having failed to procure a breakthrough with speed, South African captain Graeme Smith turned to spinner Paul Harris for the first time in the match, for the 38th over of the innings.
The change of pace was welcomed by Anderson, however, as he twice found the off-side boundary in the left-armer's fourth over.
A back-foot punch was reminiscent of a genuine top-order batsman and it was followed by a front-foot drive, which took him to a Test-best-equalling score of 28.
His innings was as impressive for its bravery as its strokeplay, however, as he received two significant blows from Dale Steyn in the next over - both of which left him requiring treatment.
The first from a Steyn bouncer from round the wicket cracked him on the right wrist.
The second immediately upon resumption saw Anderson duck into another delivery, which struck him on the side of the helmet grille and floored him.
Although it was the nastier of the two impacts, causing a change of headgear, it was the first that may have lasting damage, with Anderson's right wrist strapped after his dismissal, and his presence in the third Test at Edgbaston now dependent on the diagnosis of the injury.
Before the working over, South Africa's only clear-cut opportunity to send back Anderson came via a potential run-out.
It came in the ninth over when the