Thee next step will beto pointtoasingle piece of thegeologicalrecord (an icecore, perhaps, or samples from lakesediments) that can serve asthe officiallyacceptedreference point.
Saints, undefeated at home since March 2007, left themselves with too much to do after Newcastle raced to a 19-point lead to record their fourth successive victory.
County have lost just once in the league in 12 months and have romped to a phenomenal 27-point cushion and the champions are hoping to beat the current record points tally of 99 as Holdsworth's men can achieve 109 points.
North guided Anderson behind point to record a richly-deserved century - the Western Australia captain has now scored tons on both his Test and Ashes debuts - and Haddin took a quick single off Flintoff to pass 50.