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Trust England to rise to the small occasion. But when you are on the brink of equalling your worst sequence of one-day international defeats - eight in a row - even a victory in an otherwise meaningless match is an important one. Let's just hope that England haven't peaked too early for the World Cup.

Despite the fact that they're about to get on a plane home, there was much to admire about the way England refused to give up on yesterday's match against Pakistan after posting a total of 206 that was moderate even by their own recent standards.

It is doubtful, either, whether Pakistan would have enjoyed losing, notwithstanding the fact that it had no bearing on their appearance in Friday's final against India. But just as the game seemed poised for a tight finish, England blew apart the Pakistani lower order and won in the end by 62 runs.

With nothing tangible at stake for either side, you could have accommodated the audience at the start of the game inside a bedouin tent, never mind the 24,000-capacity Sharjah stadium, and the only thing remotely resembling an excitable crowd scene came from the England players' enclosure when Alec Stewart finally managed to win a toss.

Stewart's form with the coin has not been vastly better than his form with the bat out here, and even the apparently indefatigable captain has been worn down by his recent workload. His feet have barely moved in the crease, and yesterday he pottered to 11 in 33 balls before slicing Shoaib Akhtar to backward point.

Even on pitches that have become progressively lower and slower, thereby lowering the par for a defendable total, Akhtar's pace has had all the batsmen hopping around, and with a return of four for 37 from his 10 overs here, he is just one of the reasons Pakistan have emerged as favourites for the World Cup.

They also have variety in their attack, and one bowler likely to excel in English conditions, Azhar Mahmood, was instrumental in getting England off to their customary poor start by bowling Graeme Hick and Andrew Flintoff in the space of three deliveries.

Neil Fairbrother thus came to the crease with his team 86 for five in the 23rd over, though it says a lot for the confused nature of England's tactics when their best one-day batsman, coming in at No 7, can be said to have been promoted up the order.

Fairbrother, No 8 against India, was given out to a boundary catch that, judging by the television replay, actually ought to have been signalled six, and it was Graeme Thorpe, as it had been against India, who led the lower-order battle to scrape together a semi-respectable total.

England's 206 all out in 49.1 overs was then inflated further by the umpires docking two overs from the Pakistan innings for their poor over-rate, thus turning the contest - perhaps appropriately in view of the respective gulf in form - into a handicap.

The redoubtable Angus Fraser then made Pakistan struggle by bowling his 10 overs straight through for a return of three for 32, including the slightly fortuitous wicket of the dangerous Ijaz Ahmed.

Nick Knight got everything beneath a skier, which was just as well as the ball went straight through his hands and somehow wedged between the top of his thighs as he fell over.

Pakistan were not much better placed than England at 91 for five from 24 of their 48 overs, but as long as Salim Malik was at the crease they were dangerous. However, not even Malik can win a game if he has no one to bat with, and when Mark Ealham nipped in with three wickets in seven balls, Pakistan subsided to 144 all out with 7.4 overs left unused.