England cricket coach Duncan Fletcher has reportedly been rewarded for winning back the Ashes from Australia with a long-cherished British passport.
Fletcher, a Zimbabwean, has twice previously been turned down for British citizenship because he spent too long abroad - coaching the England team on tour.
Home Secretary Charles Clarke told the Daily Telegraph last week he might use his discretion to override technical objections to Fletcher's 14-year struggle to obtain a British passport.
And reports on Tuesday said Clarke had indeed intervened to grant the passport, ensuring the row did not sour the team's success.
"It is right to say the home secretary used his discretionary powers and it was decided Mr Fletcher deserved to be granted citizenship," a source told the Press Association.
Fletcher, 56, born in Zimbabwe of two British parents and four British grandparents, has twice been rebuffed in applications for citizenship by unsporting Home Office bureaucrats because he spends more than 90 days abroad annually.