England v West Indies, Test 1 Day 1

It would seem time has stood still for Courtney Walsh. It was around this time five years ago that he led an assault on England's batsmen on this very ground that enabled West Indies to wrap up that third Test match of the series in two days and a bit.

Later during that series he went on to reach the landmark of 300 Test wickets and today, having already become the highest wicket-taker in Test history, he passed another significant milestone of 450 wickets.

At 37, by the age most fast bowlers have passed their sell-by date, Walsh's workload has not diminished; at least not at the highest level of the game. His captain, Jimmy Adams, having put England in to bat, chose to keep him on to bowl for the entire morning session and Walsh's response was with figures of 3 for 23 in 13 overs.

What makes his performance all the more remarkable is that the pitch this time was not the 'minefield' that helped to condemn England to an innings defeat five years ago. Walsh on that occasion had claimed 3 for 54 and 5 for 45.

Today, he bettered the figures of that last five wicket haul on this ground. His 21 overs gave him a return of 5 for 36, a product of superbly controlled fast bowling. He moved the ball away, most effectively, from the right handers with four of them falling to catches that came off the outside edge.

Three of these batsmen, Mike Atherton, Andy Flintoff and Robert Croft played defensively at the balls that seamed away from them without getting behind the line and were snapped up behind the stumps and at first slip in the case of Flintoff.

Graeme Hick, who has not always been convincing against top class pace bowling, once again showed his weakness and perhaps, more worryingly for England, has not done any good to his confidence. He was out to a very poor shot, playing from the crease he appeared to half-heartedly dab at the ball. The dismissal tested the agility of the slip cordon with the third slip knocking the ball forward to second slip to catch.

Having got one good score against Zimbabwe, in three innings, he needed to be at the crease for a fair length of time today and get runs, if only to get in the right frame of mind against an opposition that seems to get a hold on a batsman once they are on top.

Having begun the summer's Test series reasonably well last month against Zimbabwe, England's batsmen reverted to the old habits of careless shots that have brought about so many batting collapses in the past.

Today, having got to a start of 44 for 1, they failed to consolidate the innings. They lost six wickets in a space of just 68 runs. It was only the late flourish from three tail-enders that added as many as 62 runs to boost the total a little to 179. It now calls for tight bowling and fielding from England to restrict West Indies' score. Although, on 50 for 2 , the tourists have not got off to a flying start.