Andrew Flintoff ended England's troubled tour of the Caribbean by claiming a hat-trick to secure an historic one-day series triumph over West Indies on Saturday.
The Lancashire all-rounder returned from an anxious week worrying about a left-thumb injury sustained last week to claim England's third ever one-day international hat-trick when he dismissed Dinesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul and Sulieman Benn.
Flintoff followed Lancashire team-mate Jimmy Anderson and best friend Steve Harmison in achieving the feat and in doing so secured England's first one-day series win in the Caribbean.
He also finished with career-best figures of 5-19 as West Indies were dismissed for 146 in reply to England's 9-172 in a match reduced to 29 overs a side by rain.
His efforts completed a remarkable turnaround for the tourists on a tour which was preceded by a change of coach and captain and saw them suffer a surprise Test series defeat.
They were not expected to regroup and claim the one-day series honours, but having come from 2-1 down to level the series in Barbados last week, Flintoff inspired their historic triumph at the Beasejour Stadium.
The victory should also boost the future employment prospects of captain Andrew Strauss and stand-in coach Andy Flower, who were both appointed at short notice following the departures of Kevin Pietersen and Peter Moores for their failure to establish a working relationship.
Former Zimbabwe captain Flower is due to be interviewed by the England and Wales Cricket Board next week for the position of permanent coach while Strauss has shown his credentials in one-day cricket, two years after being discarded by the selectors in this format of cricket.
Strauss' form with the bat played a major role in England's success during the series but in the deciding match, it was the accuracy of Flintoff's pace bowling which decided the contest.
He had already set the tone for England's victory with a stunning three-over spell early on which saw him claim 2-7 after he removed Ramnaresh Sarwan and opener Lendl Simmons to leave West Indies in a precarious position.
Flintoff also contributed two catches to underline his value as a one-day cricketer as he prepares for his first stint as an Indian Premier League player for Chennai Super Kings in the coming weeks.
Until his contribution with the ball, England's hopes of victory looked shot with a middle order collapse sparked by the dismissal of Pietersen just as he seemed set to make his first major contribution of the series.
Pietersen's highly-publicised unhappiness and homesickness on this tour has also affected his influence on England's performances and he had been restricted to just 32 runs in his three previous innings in the series.
Knowing he was just days from arriving home appeared to free Pietersen to play his best innings of the series and dominate an 80-run stand with Ravi Bopara after captain Andrew Strauss fell pulling in the second over.
He signalled his intent by driving Fidel Edwards for successive fours and then spotted Ravi Rampaul's slower ball and hit it back down the ground for six to close in on his first half-century in the series.
But just two runs short of that milestone, Pietersen mis-hit an attempted cut facing left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn straight to backward point to start a collapse of four wickets for 24 runs off 34 balls.
Bopara had battled for 18 overs to reach 44 but became panicked by Pietersen's demise and was caught behind attempting to pull while Owais Shah picked out long on when a period of consolidation was perhaps necessary.
For all of Flintoff's qualities with the ball, however, he is still finding his way with the bat again after a month-long spell on the sidelines with a hip injury and was brilliantly caught at mid-wicket by Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
It took a determined stand of 60 in the final eight overs between Paul Collingwood and Matt Prior to guide England past 150 and at least give it a chance of putting West Indies under pressure.
They were given a flying start with Jimmy Anderson slanting the ball across Chris Gayle with the third ball of the innings and Flintoff took the low edge with some aplomb.
Introduced in the sixth over of West Indies' reply, Flintoff struck in his second over to remove the dangerous Sarwan as he stepped away to try and hoist him over point only to edge behind to Prior and Simmons was caught at mid-on in the next over trying to hit over the top.
As West Indies attempted to overcome a rising run rate in the final overs, Flintoff was called on again and this time he ended the match as a contest.
The third ball of the 27th over was a leg stump yorker which Dinesh Ramdin attempted to clip to fine leg but instead it hit his leg stump and he won an lbw appeal against Rampaul with an almost identical delivery the next ball.
His next delivery bowled Benn to complete the historic feat, matching that of Harmison's against India at Trent Bridge in 2004 and Anderson's against Pakistan at the Oval a year earlier.
England innings
Strauss c Bravo b Rampaul 3 (4)
Bopara c Ramdin b Pollard 44 (49)
Pietersen c Sammy b Benn 48 (48)
Shah c Simmons b Benn 6 (12)
Collingwood not out 35 (31)
Flintoff c Chanderpaul b Pollard 3 (6)
Prior not out 25 (25)
Extras 8 (lb 3, w 4, nb 1)
Total 172 (5 wickets; 29 overs)
FoW: 1-8, 2-88, 3-104, 4-107, 5-112
Bowling
Edwards 2 – 0 – 17 – 0 (1w)
Rampaul 4 – 0 – 19 – 1 (1w)
Bravo 5 – 0 – 31 – 0 (1nb, 1w)
Pollard 5 – 0 – 31 – 2
Sammy 6 – 0 – 45 – 0 (1w)
Benn 6 – 0 – 23 – 2
Gayle 1 – 0 – 3 - 0
West Indies innings
Gayle c Flintoff b Anderson 0 (3)
Simmons c Broad b Flintoff 17 (19)
Sarwan c Prior b Flintoff 23 (28)
Chanderpaul c sub (Bell) b Collingwood 13 (18)
Bravo c Flintoff b Broad 33 (46)
Pollard c Collingwood b Anderson 30 (31)
Ramdin b Flintoff 12 (10)
Sammy run out (Pieterson / Prior) 7 (8)
Rampaul lbw b Flintoff 0 (1)
Benn b Flintoff 0 (1)
Edwards not out 2 (3)
Extras 9 (b 1, lb 3, w 5)
Total 146 (all out, 28 overs)
FoW: 1-1, 2-40, 3-45, 4-69, 5-124, 6-124, 7-140, 8-140, 9-140, 10-146
Bowling
Anderson 6 – 0 – 34 – 2 ((2w)
Broad 6 – 0 – 32 – 1 (1w)
Flintoff 5 – 0 – 19 – 5
Harmison 3 – 0 – 17 – 0 (2w)
Mascarenhas 4 – 0 – 16 – 0
Collingwood 4 – 0 – 24 - 1