Vikram Solanki emerged out of a crisis of confidence to fire England's young side to an emphatic NatWest Series final victory over South Africa at Lord's.
The Worcestershire batsman hit a quickfire half-century off only 58 deliveries to help England to a seven-wickets victory to lift the trophy in front of a sell-out Lord's crowd with 29.4 overs to spare after they had dismissed South Africa for a lowly 107.
Their triumph, which follows victory in the NatWest Challenge against Pakistan, completes an impressive first summer for captain Michael Vaughan and his youthful squad, giving them a lift in their long-term planning for the 2007 World Cup in West Indies.
Solanki, has dazzled on occasions, particularly during his brilliant century against South Africa at The Oval a fortnight ago, but he has suffered four consecutive single figure scores since to prompt calls for him to make way for Vaughan to open.
Faced with a last chance to impress this summer, Solanki hammered England towards victory by dominating an 87-run partnership with Vaughan.
The manner in which he brought up his second half-century for England was particularly impressive, launching Jacques Kallis for a six and a four off successive deliveries.
Having weathered the early pressure caused by Trescothick's loss in the second over of England's reply when he edged Makhaya Ntini to Andrew Hall at first slip without scoring, it would have been fitting if Solanki had been there to witness the celebrations.
Instead he chopped Hall onto his stumps just three overs and 19 runs away from victory after Vaughan had departed in the previous over by chipping Andre Nel to mid-on.
It was left for McGrath to hit the winning runs and celebrate with man of the series Andrew Flintoff.
While most of the emphasis has been on younger players, it was left to old-timer Darren Gough to set the tone earlier in the day when he delivered a superb opening spell of 7-2-9-2 which complimented the expensive but effective James Anderson from the other end.
Gough used his experience to frustrate South Africa into some ill-judged strokeplay against a swinging ball and after slumping to 43 for four inside the first 12 overs, the tourists were always struggling.
Anderson made the early breakthrough to remove captain Graeme Smith after he edged a loose drive to Trescothick at slip.
Ill-judged shot selection was to become a feature of South Africa's innings with England wicketkeeper Chris Read taking five catches and four players reaching double figures but failed to get past 19.
While Anderson made the initial breakthrough, it was Gough who claimed the big wickets by removing Herschelle Gibbs for just nine when he drove loosely and edged behind.
But Kallis, who had claimed two centuries already in the tournament, was the big danger and after remaining disciplined for 11 balls without scoring, he attempted to break free off the next and edged Gough behind for Read to take a superb diving catch.
Jacques Rudolph attempted a recovery and contributed a determined 19 while Shaun Pollock hit 18. But otherwise South Africa never looked like setting a challenging score and slumped to the lowest-ever total by a side batting first in a Lord's final to justify Vaughan's brave decision to bowl first after winning the toss and break with Lord's tradition.