They went to the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur in September for the glory alone and came away with the gold medal. Here in Bangladesh they picked up prize money totalling £75,000 for beating West Indies (who took £50,000) by four wickets with three overs to spare in the final of the knock-out Wills International Cup.

Four senior South African players were left at home but their absence was hardly noticed, given the intensity the side showed in the field under Hansie Cronje.

There was a time, as Philo Wallace launched a ferocious assault and scored 103 off 102 balls, when South Africa looked vulnerable. But when Wallace was smartly stumped down the leg side by Mark Boucher, the second half of West Indies' batting collapsed, with Jacques Kallis taking five wickets - the only bowler in the competition to do so - inside eight overs.

The burly Wallace, built like a heavyweight boxer, hit a series of blows which had the 40,000 crowd packed into the Bangabandhu stadium in Dhaka shreiking with excitement.

He hit five sixes and 11 boundaries, with his second fifty coming in 26 balls. In the series Wallace scored 221 runs - 152 in boundaries - off 205 balls. The Barbadian's duel with Jonty Rhodes in the field was worth going a long way to see.

England, eliminated in the first round, can take some small consolation from the fact that they were beaten by the eventual winners and scored more runs against the South African attack than any other side.