Angus Fraser who had to wait until after lunch for his first bowl of the day was treated

Angus Fraser, who had to wait until after lunch for his first bowl of the day, was treated harshly. Starting off with a limb-loosening maiden to Campbell, his next two overs were savaged for 21 runs as Lara cut him for five boundaries in the arc between cover point and third man.Michael Atherton, the England captain, claims his side have spent long hours discussing where to best bowl at Lara. Campbell is having a good series, but the sluggish pitch, although it is a similar shade of beige to that at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, was not to his liking. But for a badly missed stumping by Jack Russell off Illingworth, Campbell should have been put out of his misery soon after making double figures.Nevertheless he played the perfect foil to Lara as the left-hander went about dismantling England's theories on his perceived weaknesses. Both were played with such control that one wondered if the hoarding carried the name of one of his sponsors and that he had aimed them there deliberately.Those boundaries meant it had taken Lara only 12 balls to draw level on 16 with Sherwin Campbell, who had been at the crease for 182 minutes and had faced 128 balls more than the Trinidadian. Despite his sweet carnage, the West Indies still ended the day on 334 for five, some 106 runs in arrears.Arriving at the fall of Stuart Williams' wicket, Lara immediately upped the funereal tempo of the innings with two consecutive off-side fours, off Richard Illingworth, that clattered into the same boundary board.

We have come to expect so much from Lara that even before his century during the last Test at Old Trafford there was talk of him being burnt out. His runs had dried up as deals stimulated by his fame flooded in. Natural talent lacking the supporting corset of self-discipline will inevitably falter occasionally. Lara's talent may have been obscured momentarily but it did not desert him and England felt the full force of its backlash yesterday as he passed 500 runs for the series. England, have had two first- innings centurions; the West Indies are playing a leg-spinner; and at least one opening batsman in each side has scored at a rate of less than 13 runs per hour. Lara's scintillating 152 - his second hundred of the series - though by far the most inspiring moment of this match, was perhaps the least surprising. 150: 253 mins, 180 balls, 28 fours.Umpires: C J Mitchley (SA) and N T Plews TV Umpire: G Sharp Match referee: J R Reid..

IN MANY ways, even without Brian Lara's sumptuous century this has already been an extraordinary Test match. 300 in 397 mins, 97.4 overs.Williams's 50: 129 mins, 113 balls, 9 fours Lara's 50: 48 mins, 43 balls, 10 fours 100: 137 mins, 118 balls, 19 fours. Had he missed that, too, the gloves really might have been off.Scoreboard from Trent Bridge(England won toss)ENGLAND -First Innings 440 (G A Hick 118 no, M A Atherton 113, N V Knight 57; K C G Benjamin 5-105).WEST INDIES - First Innings(Overnight: 25 for 0)S C Williams c Atherton b Illingworth 62(loose drive to mid off; 166 min, 143 balls, 10 fours)S L Campbell c Crawley b Watkinson 47(pad-bat catch to silly point; 308 min, 225 balls, 4 fours)B C Lara c Russell b Cork 152(flicked at legside ball; 254 min, 182 balls, 28 fours)*R B Richardson c Hick b Illingworth 40(guided turning ball to slip; 53 min, 45 balls, 8 fours, 1 six)K L T Arthurton b Illingworth 13(left ball that turned sharply; 52 min, 28 balls, 3 fours)R Dhanraj not out 3(26 min, 15 balls)S Chanderpaul not out 8(21 min, 18 balls, 2 fours)Extras (b2 lb5 nb2) 9Total (for 5, 445 min, 109 overs) 334Fall: 1-77 (Williams), 2-217 (Campbell), 3-273 (Richardson), 4-319 (Arthurton), 5-323 (Lara).To bat: C O Browne, I R Bishop, K C G Benjamin, C A Walsh.Bowling: Fraser 12-5-58-0 (nb1) (6-4-9-0, 3-1-21-0, 3-0-28-0); Cork 26- 6-90-1 (nb1) (4-0-13-0, 4-2-3-0, 3-0-13-0, 2-1-9-0, 3-1-15-0, 6-1-24-0, 4-1-13-1); Watkinson 25-8-72-1 (9-6-6-0, 8-2-17-0, 6-0-25-1, 2-0-24-0); Illingworth 37-15-66-3 (27-11-52-1, 2-2-0-0, 8-2-14- 2); Hick 4-1-11-0 (one spell), White 5-0-30-0 (4-0-29-0, 1-0-1-0).Progress: Second day: Close 25-0 (Williams 16, Campbell 8) 19 overs Third day: 50 in 113 mins, 29.2 overs 100 in 185 mins, 49.1 overs Lunch 111-1 (Campbell 21, Lara 24) 53 overs 150 in 236 mins, 63.1 overs 200 in 298 mins, 79 overs Tea 226-2 (Lara 104, Richardson 9) 84 overs New ball taken after 85 overs at 227-2 250 in 346 mins, 89.5 overs. He took a smart catch towards the end of the day, diving right and moving forward down the leg side This accounted for the great man himself. The merciless judgement of the omnipresent eye suggested that if this is the best wicketkeeper in England then the rest of them in the Championship must be pretty ropy.

When Russell and England have been talked of in the past two years there was always some argument about his batting. There is nothing at all wrong with his batting now - it may be limited but it is supremely effective. The wicketkeeping is another matter.The stumping chance was as straightforward as they come. Club keepers would have had their gloves removed from their hands by their team-mates and been beaten around the ears with them until they promised to retire had they missed it.The poor chap was subjected to countless television replays and none of them can have eased his embarrassment. I didn't contribute much in the first three Tests but my concentration seems right now, you've got to be mentally prepared."If Lara had to come to the crease, Russell would probably have been happier had it been 30 minutes earlier as a result of his stumping. Apparently he stands third in the Coopers & Lybrand batting rankings, which must mean that two Test players from the planet Zog exist, because nobody in this galaxy can bat as Lara did yesterday.Lara was charmingly and disarmingly modest, as usual, afterwards, still insisting that he is not yet fit to join the ranks of the greats "I feel I'm batting pretty well now. Presumably Michael Atherton thought there could be no possible justification for dropping the ball.That catch brought Lara into the match where he proceeded to do what everyone predicted he would - dismember the England attack.