BRIAN LARA had some tactical advice for England following the West Indies' victory by seven wickets in their NatWest Series one-day international at Trent Bridge on Sunday.
It concerned the batting order but went unheeded.
England might pay more attention to it now after another batting breakdown, this time for 101, led to their second heavy defeat in three days, by seven wickets to New Zealand at Chester-le- Street yesterday.
"Most of England's match-winners are at the top of the order and in English conditions that is not the best way to go about it," Lara reasoned after the West Indies dismissed them for 147 on Sunday.
"Getting rid of (Michael) Vaughan and (Marcus) Trescothick with the new ball is very important in every game," he added.
"Middle-order batting is very important in the one-day game, especially in England and we're going to have the right players there at the right time."
So Lara dropped Ramnaresh Sarwan down to No.4 and himself to No.5 as far back as the series in South Africa earlier in the year, promoting the swashbuckling hitters Ricardo Powell and, more recently, Dwayne Smith to No.3 to follow the ODI openers, Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
The captain's view is that, as the best and most experienced batsman in the team, he can dictate the course of the innings, whatever the situation.
When rapid runs were needed at the end of the shortened innings in Saturday's eventually abandoned match against New Zealand, he responded with 36 off 22 balls.
When a wobble was threatened on the way to England's meagre total on Sunday, he arrived to finish things off with 32 from 29 balls with six fours.
England have no Lara or, for that matter, Sarwan and the gist of Lara's argument is that they are in trouble once Trescothick and Vaughan go early, as they did on Sunday and again yesterday.
The left-handed Trescoth-ick's seven hundreds and average of 39 in such matches make him comfortably the leading batsman in a team packed with modest all-rounders.
Only Paul Collingwood of the rest has an ODI hundred and then only one.
Vaughan's record in the shorter form of the game doesn't match that in Tests. He is yet to score a hundred in 46 matches but he is captain and generally recognised as their classiest player.
When Trescothick fell to Ian Bradshaw's fourth ball on Sunday and Vaughan followed in Bradshaw's next over to leave England two for two, they had no one of experience to fall back on.
Wicket-keeper Geraint Jones, on his ODI debut, and the left-handed Andrew Strauss, in his sixth match, did revive the innings with a third wicket partnerhip of 82.
But once they were gone the middle-order substance offered in Tests by Mark Butcher, Nasser Hussain, Graeme Thorpe and Andrew Flintoff was missing and England could raise only 147.
For some inexplicable reason, Butcher has never been chosen for a one-day match, Hussain retired to the commentary box last month, Thorpe, by his own choosing, no longer plays one-day internationals and Flintoff is injured.
All the more reason, Lara contends, to stabilise the middle order with a seasoned batsman.
Trescothick and Vaughan were again dismissed cheaply yesterday; Jones and Strauss did not respond as they did on Sunday; and England folded to the left-arm swing of James Franklin, a tall left-armer in pace and method similar to Pedro Collins.
New Zealand also adopted England's policy of placing their two best and oldest batsmen, captain Stephen Fleming and Nathan Astle, at the top. But they are yet to have their lesser middle order tested.
England's second successive loss, following the washout of their opening match against New Zealand, leaves them in the precarious position of having to win their remaining three matches to get into the final at Lord's on July 10.
The West Indies can eliminate them, and book their place, with another victory at Headingley in a day-night match here tomorrow.
At the best of times, it is the ground that epitomises the term "English conditions" more than any other.
The white ball is certain to wobble and move off the seam under the lights, more especially since the forecast is for cloudy and showery weather.
If England stick to their policy, it provides a chance to again dislodge Trescothick and Vaughan early and expose their shaky middle order.