A SIGHT WAS seen in the Arabian desert in December which, if anyone had dared predict it, would have been dismissed as a mirage. It was an Englishman, holding aloft a one-day Cricket cup.

 Adam Hollioake's team had arrived in Sharjah with an experimental lineup, an acute shortage of experience – especially in Sharjah– and a recent record in one-day internationals over-seas for which `dire' would be rather too polite a description. Since January 1, 1996, they had played 18 against serious opposition, Won 3, tied 1, and lost 14.

 Sharjah is not on the subcontinent as one or two commentators seemed to think, but it isn't far away – on the outskirts of Dubai, an hour by air from Karachi, where two of the teams had faced each other only three days before the Akai Singer Champions Trophy began. A match in Sharjah is virtually a home game for India and Pakistan, whose young men are lured to the Emirates by the well-paid jobs on the oil rigs. Wasim Akram had played 52 one day internationals on this ground by the time he went out to toss with Hollioake. With the fourth team, West Indies, desperate to salvage something from a dismal tour, England could conceivably have played well and lost all their matches. Instead, they won them all.

None of the victories was crushing (the widest margin was four wickets), but the winning of the trophy as a whole was: with each of the other sides losing twice England were indisputably the team of the tournament.

Desert stormers, the tabloids called them. But in this contest, as in the Gulf in 1990–91, there wasn't a lot of Storming going on. England gained ground inch by inch, and by stealth. They beat some of the world's best batsmen for lack of pace. They fielded like demons, or more accurately, like well-drilled southern Africans: by the end of the tournament, the four best fielding sides in the world were all white – South Africa, Zimbabwe, Australia and England.

 England's star performer in the first match was Matthew Fleming, making his international debut on he eve of his 33rd birthday – a late developer partly because he had another career first, as an army officer. He felt visibly at home in this squad. It was well-trained, thoroughly prepared, highly disciplined, and not very interested in individual feats (twice, they let an opponent be Man of the Match). Brisk, outgoing, at ease on foreign soil, this squad was quite like the Army at its best; and quite unlike an England touring team.

 THEIR TRIUMPH was an easy one for those at home to be cynical about. True, they were fresh: the number of days each team had gone without a competitive match was wildly unbalanced – Pakistan and West Indies 2, India 4, England 110. But that could have cut the other way. England might have been rusty or unfit. True, the schedule was kind to them: they never had to play two games in a row (both teams that did lost the second one), and all their matches were on the same strip. And in both games against West Indies, England had the biggest possible slice of luck. They dismissed Brian Lara, still the world's most dangerous batsman, for 0 and 2 – thanks to an umpiring error, and a stumping that was inspired, but slippery enough for Lara to have words with Alec Stewart.

FLYING England's Scotsman, Dougie Brown, worked up a good head of steam as Dean Headley's new-ball partner

All that said, England played very well. They had a simple plan, and stuck to it. They got into a losing position in every match, and dug themselves out by holding their nerve. The senior pro, Stewart, was back to his sergeant-majorly best, making runs every time, standing up to the wicket solidly for the last two-thirds of each innings, grabbing stumpings, run-outs and skyers, and easily out-yelling the other keepers (`Bowled, Jazzer!'). The other established star, Graham Thorpe, shone almost as brightly, orchestrating both England's run-chases and holding some superb catches. The bowling was as tight as the miniskirts of the Russian girls working the teams' hotel. Adam Hollioake and Matthew Fleming did so well with their wily medium-pacers (nothing military about them) that, like the pinch-hitters of the 1996 World Cup, they added a new job description to the international vocabulary: the death bowler.

IN CHARGE Adam Hollioake with the Champions Trophy.

SMART Alec Stewart was England's best player, making runs, stumping both Tendulkar (right, off Fleming) and Lara, and doing a Gordon Banks twist (far right) to seal victory over Pakistan by running out Saqlain

As captain, Hollioake was nerveless, outward-looking, and charismatic: as Dave Gilbert said when he became Surrey captain, he's a natural leader. If there were times when you could fault him tactically, he was consistently excellent at man-management and presentation. The whole thing was no fluke: England got their just deserts. And so what if several of them were not thoroughbreds? In this part of the world, a camel is more use than a horse.

 ENGLAND'S TRIUMPH had its roots in Pakistan, of all places. They did their warning-up in Lahore, and liked it. They played a Pakistan Cricket Board side twice under lights, and beat them twice, first batting first, then batting second. Hollioake took the photographers on a PR outing to a market. The players even liked their hotel.

When I arrived in Sharjah, early on the morning of England's first match, the atmosphere was instantly unlike the other England tours I had been on. Players were greeting correspondents at the breakfast buffet with unforced smiles. The writers, in turn, were giving the players rave reviews. They singled out Fleming, Adam Hollioake and Dougie Brown (`lovely lad'). Sharp contrasts were drawn with Zimbabwe, a year earlier. `It's easy when they're winning,' one or two colleagues said when I got home; but with this squad, it was easy before that.

They were very fit: the nearest thing to an injury was a heavy cold, carried by David Lloyd. Only one thing had gone wrong in Pakistan– Ben Hollioake had been `outta sorts', as Lloyd put it. He had bowled only seven overs and had not made runs. So the tour selectors left him out of the side to play India. His brother, and his Surrey team-mates Stewart and Thorpe (co-opted on to the selection panel), may have been trying not to be biased. It's not a very good excuse. In England's previous one-day international, Ben Hollioake had made one of the all-time great debuts. He may well be the kind of player that comes along once in a generation. To drop him made no sense – especially when there were so many places up for grabs that recalls were given to Ally Brown, Nick Knight and Graeme Hick, and debuts to Dougie Brown and Fleming.

Not that it did the team any harm in the short term. In the umpteenth match at Sharjah, but the first under lights, England got off to a flier against India. Stewart cruised to only his second one-day hundred, adding 42, 89 and 68 with the three recallees. England's innings petered out, but that turned out to be less a comment on them (although Thorpe was misguidedly demoted) than on the conditions. The two pitches, made of mud and straw and sitting in the middle like a pair of shinpads left went on. The outfield was so unnaturally lush that the more alert players soon tried to hit sixes rather than fours. The white ball went soft and green: at times, it was like trying to hit a bowl of pea soup.

 India started brightly too, but lost four wickets between the 12th and 20th overs, and with them their momentum. Sachin Tendulkar remained, a great player with a useful foil in his vice-captain Ajay Jadeja. They doubled the score to 182 for 4 in the 40th, which made India narrow favourites. But then Fleming, great-nephew of Ian, grabbed the starring role: The Man with the Golden Arm. Jadeja chipped one of Fleming's many slower balls to Thorpe at midwicket, Robin Singh was lbw to the nip-backer, Kumble was run out, and Tendulkar was stumped, charging a near-offside-wide. If Fleming had seen him coming, it would have been a stroke of genius. He was quick to admit that he hadn't. England won by seven runs, and an hour later, in the bar of the Royal Abjar Hotel, the Russian girls had the novel experience of listening to 16 Englishmen singing `Happy Birthday' and `Consider Yourself (One of the Family)'.

UNBEATEN David Graveney made it seven one-day wins out of seven as chairman of selectors, and proved a genially effective tour manager

STEELY Mark Ealhan came back from a mauling by Saeed Anwar to bowl eight overs for 19

IRREPRESSIBLE Matthew Fleming started as England's 14th man, called up only because Darren Gough was given Paternity leave. He finished as one of the Players of the tournament. `I' just glad Goughy was spot-on that night,' he told the press

Qualifying table

Next day West Indies regained a sliver of pride by beating Pakistan. Lara looked himself again with a whippy 88, and Shahid Afridi– pale and floppy-haired, a Merchant-Ivory matinée idol – couldn't sustain an explosive start. The odds were being upset.

 WHEN ENGLAND played West Indies, the crowd was so small you could count it: 567, I made it, half-way through West Indies' innings. And some were only there because they had bought season tickets. When Pakistan and India arrived to practise in the nets behind the ground, the entire contents of one stand ran to the top to look out over the back.

They were missing a good contest. England had a dream start: two wickets in the first three balls, from Dougie Brown. The second was a dubious lbw– one of the few balls that swung for anyone but Wasim Akram, it might well have missed leg. But the victim was Lara, and England were, to use one of Adam Hollioake's favourite words, ecstatic. Carl Hooper made sure that West Indies used up their overs, but never found top gear: the role of the sleeping policeman was played to perfection by his county colleague Ealham. Hollioake again kept the bowling changes to a minimum: not for him the frantic switching which is supposed to break the batsmen's rhythm, but can have the same effect on the bowlers. He and Fleming continued to show icy control, conceding only 77 off their 16 overs.

 England's batsmen couldn't get going, and discovered that rumours of the death of West Indian fast bowling had been exaggerated as Franklyn Rose and Mervyn Dillon dragged some fire out of the pitch. Hooper was miserly and wickets fell steadily. But the target never got huge, Thorpe made a shrewd 50, and Ealham saw them home with not many wickets but plenty of time to spare.

 Pakistan v India, the big one for the crowd, beginning to resemble the third-place play-off. Sourav Ganguly continued his purple patch but India's 237 soon looked small as Saeed Anwar gave the trumpeters and cheerleaders something to serenade with his seventh Sharjah hundred. David Lloyd, watching the hotel television like a dervish, noted that not a single batsman had been caught at slip in the four matches so far.

 Pakistan could still finish top, by squeezing past England on net run rate. England knew that only a heavy defeat would keep them out of the final. Calculators came out, but Adam Hollioake tried to ignore them. England now had the self-belief to feel that could beat anyone. Their pinch-hitter, Ally Brown, came off for the first time, depositing Wasim Akram over long-on for six. Stewart made runs yet again, and greeted Manzoor Akhtar, Pakistan's latest legspinner, with a flick for six out of the rough which was the shot of the tournament. But Akram's ploy of fielding three leggies, plus the masterly offspin of Saqlain Mushtaq, was a good one. It was all spin from the 21st over onwards, and only a flurry from Dougie Brown took England to 215.

The new ball again struck gold, and the stumps: two of Pakistan's matchwinners, Aamir Sohail and Afridi, were out by the second over. A third, Inzamam-Ul-Haq, was injured. But that left the scintillating Anwar and the in-form Ijaz. They smashed 13 off the ninth over, from Brown, and nine off the next from Headley. Ealham came on to restore a measure of order, and Headley repaid Hollioake's faith with a one-run over. But then Anwar went ballistic, or as close to it as someone so nonchalant can manage. He glanced Ealham for four, square-drove him for four with a Lara whiplash, glanced a feathery single, ran three with Ijaz, and returned to flick the last ball almost for six at deep square. Sixteen off an over from Ealham: psychologically, it was as if any other bowler had gone for about 50. So what did Hollioake do? He kept him on, and Ealham's last eight overs went for only 19. Anwar was first frustrated – it's not hard, you just pitch the ball on a postage stamp while endlessly varying your pace – and then bowled by Robert Croft, who needed to do something. Ijaz went next ball, and although Manzoor Akhtar showed nous and promise, he couldn't run the show. Moin could have, but was diddled into a leading edge by Fleming; Akram could have, but his batting is in disrepair. At the press conference – his last as captain, as it turned out – Akram said simply: `They play for each other.'

UNITED England with the Champions Trophy. Below: Mathew Stewart, aged 4, meets it at Hearthrow

 ENGLAND'S PLAN was now familiar, and West Indies, after sweeping aside the forlorn Indians, went into the final forewarned. They pushed Chanderpaul up to work the new ball around with the in-form dasher Stuart Williams. Dougie Brown's inexperience finally showed, but Ealham was impeccable and Fleming (three wickets and a big run-out) irresistible. As the lights came on, the innings faded.

 England had only to hold their nerve: something they had suddenly become good at. Or had they? Courtney Walsh, in probably his last match as captain, was majestic. Ally Brown and the out-of-form Knight scraped only 25 off 72 balls, and made one yearn again for Ben Hollioake. But Stewart, rounding off his best week's work since Bridgetown 1994, made 50, and where he left off, Thorpe took up. The captain stayed long enough to steady the ship, but it looked bleak when Ealham followed him back to the players' enclosure: England needed 71 off nine, which was about 25 too many for comfort.

But the force was with them. Thorpe found some big shots, and stole an overthrow, and took 13 off the 42nd over, from Dillon. Seven off the next from Walsh: up with the rate. Walsh brought the legspinner Rawl Lewis back on: Thorpe and Fleming, relishing every moment, took nine off him. Walsh changed the bowling again – to Phil Simmons. He too went for nine. Now it was 31 needed off six: standard Sunday stuff. All they had to do was stay in and work it around. But Fleming is not that kind of player. He swept Lewis for four, fine, then hit a four inside-out off a no-ball, of all things. By running himself out when the game was all but won, Fleming collected an individual ovation. He had fully earned it.

 Adam Hollioake had won his first four one-dayers as captain. David Graveney had won his first seven as chairman of selectors. Yet when he got home, the genial Graveney allowed Graham Gooch and Mike Gatting to talk him into returning Hollioake to the ranks for the one-day series in West Indies. This is somewhat unfair on Mike Atherton, who is always exhausted at the end of a long series; and flagrantly unfair on Hollioake, whose first outing as captain was an unmitigated triumph.

INDIVIDUAL AWARDSMAN OF THE SERIES Hooper (above) FASTEST 50 Shahid Aridi (39 balls) BEST BOWLER Saqlain (9 wkts) BEST FIELDER Chanderpaul

Sharjah diary: they do things differently here

•No human risked doing the same. In the United Arab Emirates, immigrants who misbehave find their pictures in the papers, along with stem advice to employers not to touch them. Harsh, but effective: crowd trouble is unknown. Worth a try at Headingley?

•The Champions Trophy was televised in 60 countries, including the USA – but not the UK, until the BBC made a token gesture and showed highlights of the final the next day on Grandstand. Paradoxically, it was an ex-BBC team that was manning the Cameras – led by Keith Mackenzie, who for years ran the BBCs Test coverage. You missed some interesting television as well as some good cricket. Under instructions from WorldTel, Mark Mascarenhas's company, at least one camera spun round to face the stands after almost every ball. Viewers saw sheikhs, babies ( Wasim Akram's), cheerleaders (yes, they do have them in Islamic countries), players and coaches (chatting to G. Boycott on air), members of the Barmy Army, the lot. It was like flipping from WCM to the Tatler and back, every two minutes.

Into the spirit: Dougie Brown

•And then there were the ads, which mostly had something to do with cricket. At home Pepsi have the Spice Girls; here, they have Rahul Dravid.

•The fact that the tournament was sponsored by Singer led to an unusual offer from a Dubai store: buy a sewing machine, get two tickets for the final free.

•The floodlights – newly installed, and working to perfection – were a bonus for England. The playing hours were 2.30-10.30pm, local time – or, in GMT, just another day at the office. The players rose late. Jet-lag never got a look-in.

Better things to do: the crowd turn their backs on England and West Indies to watch Pakistan and Indian practise in the nets

• Sharjah is an Emirate in itself, but feels like a suburb of Dubai – the ground is in a drab part of town occupied almost entirely by car-spares shops. Handy if England's wheels had come off.

•This England squad were always laughing. Not least when Adam Hollioake did his post-match TV interviews. First he told Michael Holding that Mark Ealham had been `charging in like a rhinoceros and bowling a good line and length'. Then Tony Cozier was surprised to be informed that Alec Stewart, standing up, had been taking the ball `nipple-high'. The team looked as if they knew what word to expect.

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