The third one-dayer in Zimbabwe on Sunday offered the heart-warming sight of two young English batsmen -- Andy Flintoff and Paul Collingwood -- halting a collapse with some bright mid-innings batting against the spinners. Milking slow bowlers on even slower surfaces is something England traditionally do badly, but finishing the job is something they hardly ever do at all. That's why what happened next put even that partnership in the shade. Jeremy Snape, come on down. In the Harare evening sunshine, your ice-cool treatment of Zimbabwe's attack was a triumph. In your first innings for England you jumped in at the deep end (48 runs needed with just a limping captain and a green tail to come) and made Zimbabwe's total look shallow. Your 24* off 26 balls was more than a gutsy knock. It was a victory for a system that attracts more negative comments than a Taliban press release. It was a victory for county cricket.

If this sounds far-fetched, consider the facts. In his time at Northamptonshire after graduating from Durham University, Snape would have been flattered to be called a journeyman. He was an offspinner who was more successful with the bat -- which wasn't saying much. In 30 Championship matches spread over six years, he scored 831 runs at 24 and took 50 wickets at 45. Things got worse in 1998 when he didn't even make it out of the Second XI. If someone had told you then that three years later Snape would be man of the match in a one-day international -- as he was in the first game of this series -- you would have escorted them politely to the door.

Snape was going nowhere fast, but Gloucestershire threw him a lifeline in 1999 and gradually resurrected his career by making him a cog in the most successful one-day machine in the history of county cricket. By 2001 his confidence had soared, and he demanded a place up the order. He moved from No. 8 to No. 6, scored his first county century in a National League game against Notts -- and promptly added three more, all in the Championship.

But just as importantly, he learnt the tools of the one-day trade. He made cheeky runs from unpromising positions, had five cheap overs on the board before the batsmen knew he had even come on, and bounced around like a rubber ball at backward point. Above all, he learnt how to win. Snape had already settled in nicely on his England debut, taking a great diving catch in the outfield and deceiving not just one Flower but two -- in the same over. And on Sunday, he brought some of that Gloster savvy to the international stage, going down on one knee to hit Dirk Viljoen over extra cover, and digging out a Henry Olonga yorker so successfully that the ball raced past mid-off for four.

Gloucestershire's coach John Bracewell, himself an offspinner who could bat a bit, has been saying for a long time that more of his team should be playing for England. The selectors thought "Yeah, yeah" and occasionally picked Mark Alleyne. When they chose Snape for the Zimbabwe tour, it looked like a sop. But for once the lessons learnt on the county circuit have come in handy at international level.

OK, so this is Zimbabwe we're talking about, but, as Hussain himself said after Sunday's win, the performance of players like Snape, James Kirtley and Matthew Hoggard could do wonders for the confidence of county cricketers everywhere. And as Snape has shown, confidence is half the battle.

Lawrence Booth is assistant editor of Wisden.com. His English Angle appears here on Wednesdays.

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