THE final Test proved one too many for England at The Wanderers, leaving captain Andrew Strauss nursing disappointment but insisting his team still have reason to be proud this winter.

The innings-and-74-run margin by which South Africa raced to victory before lunch on day four was a fair summary of their domination.

Strauss must come to terms with a 1-1 series outcome, and the fact that England – after their famously brave draws at Centurion and Newlands, and landslide second-Test win in Durban – did themselves scant justice in Johannesburg.

The match began with Strauss’ wicket first ball and featured a century for his opposite number, Graeme Smith, and 14 wickets for South Africa fast bowlers Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel.

Yet perhaps the most memorable, and uncomfortable, factor was England’s discontent with the decision review system (DRS) – and specifically third umpire Daryl Harper’s decision to reprieve Smith on 15.

Strauss is adamant, however, no frayed tempers played any part in England’s insipid performance.

‘‘It’s been three and a half really frustrating days for us,’’ he said.

‘‘When you lose four wickets in the first hour of a Test, it is always going to be hard to drag it back.

‘‘South Africa never let us back in the game. They kept the pressure on us, then were able to get through the tricky new-ball spells and build a sizeable lead.

‘‘Steyn and Morkel were excellent, and we were below par.’’ Strauss had been at pains before the match to acknowledge England were here to win the series, not draw it.

Afterwards, he said: ‘‘That’s a disappointing end to the tour.

“But you don’t want to lose sight of the fact it’s been a very successful tour, and I think we’ve made some improvements over the course of the ten weeks.

‘‘We’ve shown a lot of resilience and character, which is probably the most important asset to have as a side.’’ DRS may have dominated many discussions off the field, but on it Strauss believes the distractions were minimal.

‘‘The review system generally in this series has worked pretty well,’’ he said.

‘‘I think we’ve got more decisions right as a result of it, but we haven’t got every decision right.

‘‘We’re far more frustrated by the way we played than anything that went on with the review system in this game.

‘‘When we needed things to go our way, they didn’t, which is often the case.

“When you’re behind and clutching at straws, it often doesn’t happen the way you want it to.

‘‘We need to take this loss on the chin and accept it for what it was – which is not a very good performance on our part, and a very good one from South Africa.’’ Strauss does not subscribe to the view either that England’s draining experiences to close out last-ditch draws in the first and third Tests left them with little left to give.

‘‘We were up for one last effort, but I just think we never got started,’’ he said. ‘‘From ball one, we were behind the eight ball.

‘‘On wickets like that, you need to get through that new ball. We weren’t able to do that in either innings.’’ Strauss is convinced that although England were unable to pull off a near miracle rearguard for a third time they have still made great strides in South Africa.

He said: ‘‘If you keep putting yourself in that situation, eventually the other side is going to win the game, which is what happened.

‘‘But I said at the start of the tour, in pure cricketing terms, this would be a harder series to win than the Ashes.

So to draw it 1-1 is a pretty notable achievement – after winning the one-day series as well.

“It’s been a great tour to be on. The players have applied themselves exceptionally well; the work ethic has been good; it’s been fun – and we’ve got a lot of good memories to go home with.

‘‘It’s not all doom and gloom, but we certainly would have liked to finish the tour better than we did.

‘‘It just leaves a little bit of a bitter taste in the mouth, but it’s easy to get too wrapped up in what has happened over the five days and forget to look at the previous nine weeks.’’ Smith’s emotions, inevitably, were very different after his team had finally managed to convert a winning position.

‘‘We could easily be sat here 3-1 up,’’ he said.

‘‘We lacked knockout blows in Centurion and Cape Town; England showed great resilience throughout the series and played well at Durban.

‘‘But we really dominated this game and came out deserved winners.

‘‘I’m really proud of the way the guys performed. It could have been easy for us to run out of puff after giving so much in Cape Town, but we bounced back, and each guy was hungry to perform well.’’ Smith disagreed with Strauss about the effect on the tourists of their DRS disenchantment.

‘‘It’s something that has made us happy,’’ he said.

‘‘We feel that England spent so much time and energy on that stuff that it really allowed us to focus on our cricket.

‘‘To see them really lose focus on what was important gave us more confidence through the game.’’ But he believes England may be starting an upward curve, albeit one with a few blips ahead.

‘‘I think England will have a few ups and downs. But there’s potential there,’’ he said.

■ Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan and fast bowler Shahadat Hossain claimed four wickets apiece as India’s famed batting line-up crumbled on the first day of the first Test in Chittagong.

Openers Virender Sehwag (52) and Gautam Gambhir (23) gave India a solid start with a 79-run stand, but India lost their way.

Sachin Tendulkar took India past the 200-run mark with a battling 76 not out and India had reached 213 for eight when bad light ended play. Ishant Sharma was at the other end on one.

Shakib had invited India to bat first in overcast conditions, but his decision at first seemed to have backfired as Sehwag and Gambhir got the visitors off to an aggressive start.