Steve James was having a nightmare. After scoring more than 1,700 runs in a scintillating summer, the Glamorgan opener was struggling to get bat on ball against Somerset at Taunton in the final game of the season. He was fortunate not to be given out lbw and then edged a delivery to slip and was dropped.

Soon after, though, James fittingly scored the winning runs as Glamorgan reached their target of 11 without loss to secure their first county championship title for 28 years. Spontaneous joy enveloped the ground as 2,500 Welsh supporters broke into song and carried James off the field on their shoulders.

During the festivities, however, the Glamorgan player’s bat went missing. “I managed to get it back through a newspaper appeal,” he says. “I then had the bat boxed and it was auctioned, but the person who won the auction was kind enough to give it back to me so I still have it.”

Glamorgan needed to win at Taunton to finish ahead of Kent in the championship. “We stuck Somerset in on a wicket that suited batting,” recalls their captain Matthew Maynard. “It was a brave decision but at that stage of the season we knew it was going to be the right decision.”

Waqar Younis, the Pakistan paceman signed as the Welsh side’s overseas professional, paid his dues and Somerset were dismissed for 252. Glamorgan replied with 527, Maynard scoring 142. “Matthew batted brilliantly,” says James. “It was very dark and Andrew Caddick was swinging the ball sideways.”

When Waqar could not take wickets in the second innings, Darren Thomas chipped in with five and Glamorgan were on their way to glory.

So what was the key to their triumph? James pays tribute to the roles of Waqar and coach Duncan Fletcher who completed the jigsaw in a tightly knit, home-grown team. “With due respect to the bowlers we had, we lacked a real cutting edge, which Waqar gave us. And there was Duncan with his Midas touch. It is difficult to quantify what he added. Even if it was 5%, it was the crucial 5% that was the difference.”

Maynard, too, was impressed with his coach. “He didn’t say much early on in the nets. He ran the fielding, which was short, sharp, high-tempo and good quality. After watching the guys, he then started coaching and was absolutely brilliant.”

Maynard had seen good signs at the beginning of the summer. “We had a magnificent preseason and then started with three tough games. Had it not been for the weather we would have hammered Warwickshire. We had a good draw against Yorkshire and beat Kent at Canterbury, so we knew we could compete with all these teams.

“When we signed Waqar it seemed to galvanise and focus the team. We had a very good unit; don’t get me wrong. Everyone contributed terrifically. We only used 14 players in the year and that was with Robert Croft being called up by England as well, so that was testimony to how fit the guys stayed.”

Waqar won crucial weather-affected matches against Lancashire and Sussex in a wet season when rain robbed Glamorgan of about 2,000 overs. They had one blip, being bowled out for 31 by Middlesex.

Maynard and openers Hugh Morris and James each scored more than 1,000 runs; Waqar took 68 wickets, including a hat-trick, and Steve Watkin and Robert Croft took 61 and 54 wickets respectively.

It was not a successful season for everybody. Tony Cottey averaged less than 25 as a frontline batsman. “After four or five good years with the bat, I had a dreadful season,” he says. “I started badly and by June I was trying to play catchup and could never get going. It was a great season for Glamorgan, though. A lot of us had grown up together and played junior cricket so to win the championship together was fantastic.”

1 Alun Evans A compact opening batsman, he played one game in the championship season. He later won a regular slot in the side. He also played for Northern Districts in New Zealand and now works alongside former teammate Tony Cottey, selling kit for Absolute Cricket in Swansea

2 Waqar Younis One of the finest fast bowlers in the game, he boasts the highest strike rate among Test players who have appeared in more than 200 matches. The purveyor of reverse swing, he took 373 Test wickets for Pakistan and captained his country. He was Pakistan bowling coach and is now a commentator

3 Dean Cosker A young left-arm slow bowler, he added variety to the attack with 20 wickets in his second season. He still plays for Glamorgan 12 summers after his debut. His tight bowling and sharp fielding is suited to the one-day game

4 Tony Cottey After playing professional football for Swansea City, he forged a place in the Glamorgan middle-order and played a match-winning innings against Essex in 1997. He also enjoyed success with Sussex. He sells cricket kit, coaches the Glamorgan U15 side and is an after-dinner speaker. His recently published autobiography is titled There’s Only Two Tony Cotteys (Gomer Press, £14.99)

5 Adrian Dale Batting at No 3, he made a useful contribution to clinching the title. A particularly adept one-day all-rounder, he was Glamorgan's player of the season in 2000 and 2001. He lives in New Zealand where he manages the Cornwall Cricket Club in Auckland

6 Darren Thomas Once known to his teammates as “Dough Boy”, he worked on his weight and his game to play a big role in the county’s success. An accurate seamer and hard-hitting batsman, he spent 15 years with Glamorgan and one summer with Essex. He runs his own cricket-bat manufacturing company in Swansea called ProBats

7 Matthew Maynard The Glamorgan captain broke a string of records for his county during a 20-year career. He played four Tests and 14 one-day internationals for England and was assistant national coach. He is now Glamorgan’s cricket manager

8 Adrian Shaw Promoted to first-team wicket-keeper the season before, Shaw chipped in with some useful contributions with the bat. He spent a lot of his time behind the stumps for the county’s second team and is now Glamorgan coach Steve James, left It was his golden summer. He compiled 1,775 first-class runs in the season and was the leading scorer in the country. Surprisingly, he was overlooked for the Test team until the following year, when he won two caps. A successful Glamorgan captain, he is a cricket columnist for The Sunday Telegraph

ESPN, Sky channel 442, will show Waqar Younis bowling for Pakistan in 1996 in the first Test against England at 8.30pm today

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