The injured half of England's intended bowling attack for Lord's next week made a half-decent recovery yesterday as it eased itself back into action on the Duke of Norfolk's back lawn. Unfortunately for the lone England selector present it was Brian Lara who impressed more - on and off the pitch.
First he hit a century off 89 balls, then he complained about the strength of the side put out by the MCC, which included only three current internationals and had six players who do not regularly play first-class cricket.
"With the Test coming up we expected a bit more competition," said the West Indies captain. "After all the one-day stuff I was really anxious to get back to the longer version of the game. I'm a bit disappointed with the 11 guys that played."
Lara, who has only one more warm-up match before facing Matthew Hoggard and (presumably) Simon Jones in the first Test, retired ill at tea, saying he felt weak and needed medical attention. So weak, apparently, that he urgently had to replace the fluids lost in little more than two hours at the crease, which featured 18 fours and two sixes as he and Devon Smith put on 196 at a run a ball.
Lara, who had scored 400 not out, 53, 120 and 113 in his previous four first-class innings, gave only one hard chance - a stinging drive to cover point when he was on 81. Smith went on to make a chanceless 142, something the chairman of selectors David Graveney will have logged as he prepares to announce the England squad on Sunday - especially the way Smith climbed into Jones just after tea.
Jones, who missed the last two Tests against New Zealand, went for 67 off 10 overs against Sri Lanka A on Friday. Yesterday he started like a man who has played only twice in six weeks, struggling until his fifth over, when Chris Gayle was dropped at first slip on 39. It hardly mattered because Jones repeated the delivery - slanting across the left-hander - two balls later and this time Alastair Cook hung on.
But Jones, who pulled out of the Headingley Test with an injured foot, was by far the more expensive of the England bowlers on show. His 16 overs cost 75 whereas Hoggard, who has missed two games for Yorkshire because of a knee injury, worked up useful pace on a slow wicket and took two for 28 off his 17 overs.
In his fifth over he had Gayle dropped by Graham Thorpe at second slip and he followed it up with a big shout for leg-before when the Jamaican left-hander offered no shot. As with Jones he bowled three spells, the most productive once Lara had gone. First he found a mobile phone near his run-up, then he trapped Shivnarine Chanderpaul with the fourth ball after tea, and 11 deliveries and two runs later Dwayne Smith edged to Rikki Wessels - son of Kepler - behind the wicket.
"This was my first bowl after the injury and I was a little bit stiff after lunch, but everything's cool," Hoggard said later. "[Lara] played some amazing shots. If he can play like that with flu then I hope he hasn't got it for the first Test." Last time he faced Lara the West Indian made his record 400 not out in Antigua.