Sussex's James Kirtley was the hero as England charged to an emphatic 70 run victory over South Africa in the third Test today.

Kirtley took five wickets in 105 minutes of dramatic action at Trent Bridge.

South Africa, resuming on 63-5 and needing a further 139 runs to claim an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the series following their emphatic win at Lord's, slumped to 131 all out despite a battling half-century from Mark Boucher.

The victory levels the series and puts England in pole position for Thursday's fourth Test at Headingley with South Africa weakened by the loss of premier seamer Shaun Pollock, who flies home tonight for the birth of his first child.

Man of the match Kirtley, who finished with figures of 6-34, began the collapse this morning by striking with the 34th ball of the day to remove stubborn Neil McKenzie who had battled for 88 minutes for his 11 on a deteriorating pitch.

It was the wicket which finally ended McKenzie's resistance when he played forward to a full-length delivery which barely bounced before continuing to knock back his off-stump and give England the early breakthrough they craved.

Eight balls later all-rounder Andrew Flintoff lifted England's victory hopes by removing new batsman Pollock in almost identical fashion before he had scored, once again the ball keeping low. This time his off stump was knocked out of the ground.

England claimed their third wicket in 13 balls in Kirtley's next over when all-rounder Andrew Hall also fell without scoring to his first delivery when he attempted to drive wildly off the front foot and edged straight to Marcus Trescothick at first slip.

Just as the enthusiastic Trent Bridge crowd sensed a quick England triumph, however, they encountered stubborn resistance from South Africa's ninth wicket partnership with Boucher and Paul Adams combining in a 45-run stand spanning 14 overs.

Boucher, unbeaten on nine overnight, hit a superb half-century - the highest by any player on either side in the second innings - and guided Adams through a testing spell as South Africa progressed to within 100 of the victory total.

But with only 25 minutes to go before lunch, England captain Michael Vaughan recalled Kirtley to the attack and he struck with his fourth ball to end Adams' stubborn resistance when he propped forward and offered a simple return catch to give the Sussex seamer five wickets on his debut.

Kirtley completed England's victory in his next over when Boucher's determined innings was ended when he pushed forward and edged behind to wicketkeeper Alec Stewart to start England's celebrations.