When he came off after batting for two hours in almost unbearable humidity and heat, Hollioake admitted: ``I wasn't talking too much sense or thinking clearly.''

He led the side out into the field but had to come off again for nine overs. ``If I hadn't I think I would have passed out on the spot and I didn't want that to happen in front of 40,000 spectators.''

In the dressing room, Hollioake said he had ``an attack of the munchies: chocolate bars, noodles, bread. I couldn't stop eating. Dean Conway, our physiotherapist, had to stop me.

``After that I felt on cloud nine - as if I had just smoked 10 joints. But I wasn't thinking good. I went back on and told Graeme Hick to keep on captaining for the next two overs otherwise I might do strange things like putting in three slips.

``The first few overs I had no idea what was going on. Dean had told me to be careful otherwise I might end up on a drip. In the interval, I was walking round the dressing room asking for sun cream. Harvey [Neil Fairbrother] said, 'what are you talking about? It's night time out there'. ``

Hollioake reckoned that in the 24 hours before and after the game here he consumed 15-20 litres of bottled water as well as special glucose drinks. In the interval, he had sat under a cold shower for 20 minutes.

``I don't quite know how it all happened,'' he said. ``It was a mixture of heat exhaustion and dehydration. There was just no respite from it. I still feel sore all over.''

The England captain admitted that with hindsight the side would have been better served by having two recognised spinners. ``We thought the wicket would be similar to Sharjah,'' he said, ``where the medium-pacers were dangerous. But our attack didn't really suit the conditions this time.''