It denied James Franklin a hat-trick and it would have been easy to uphold given the circumstances. But Lloyds correctly spotted that the swinging ball pitched, just, outside leg stump. Not out.These incidents demonstrate that Lloyds has undergone trial by television, and passed (as has Mark Benson, the other English umpire new to the international list, if not so dramatically) Lloyds is phlegmatic about it all. That was actually the third time Sarkar had fallen to Collins off the first ball of a Test – he was bowled in Dhaka in 2002 – but Lloyds in only his second match created his own bit of history.

There have been only five instances of a player being leg before to the first ball of a Test, the Lloyds index finger has featured in two of them. A Kournikova with real clout, and one whose ascendancy from an impoverished childhood amid the “frozen wastelands of Siberia” to this pinnacle is already one for the movie-makers. A touch of Dr Zhivago meets My Fair Lady.It is an evocative story, by any judgement. You suspect it is only the beginning if, under the guidance and mentoring of the IMG Bollettieri Academy, her career can strike that crucial balance between the disciplined existence that is required for continued progress and the freedom that sustains a semblance of “normality”.

However, as Nick Bollettieri has warned in the Independent, dedication would enrich her game, while “a circle of fun and fancy and frills and parties”, a lifestyle which he says was enjoyed by Mary Pierce and Iva Majoli after their first Grand Slam triumphs, could ruin her.The Russian Revelation can prepare for her next tournament in Los Angeles while selecting her commercial suitors at leisure. Life is not quite so facile for Merseyside’s own teenager, who some- how brings to mind that description once given to the American statesman Daniel Webster, of “a steam engine in trousers”.Wazza, or Roo, depending on headline space, has been revealing all in the two popular Murdoch organs, if such front pages as “Rooney: My love for Coleen” (his girlfriend) and “How I nearly quit football” (or, to be more exact, how at one stage he got a bit hacked off with all the training) can be described as such.The Sun and News of the World series has achieved what would have appeared impossible three weeks ago, with a Rooney-inspired England having just qualified for the Euro 2004 quarter-finals: it has turned the Everton striker into an iconoclast. Dead-eye Jerry.Sabina Park, Jamaica, a few days later, Second Test, first ball, same combatants, same personnel Collins strides past once more The ball thuds into Sarkar’s pads Bowler, wicketkeeper, slips go up Lloyds dispenses his verdict once again. Hannan Sarkar elects to leave.”I just thought to myself, ‘why oh why has he done that? That’s hitting, that’s out’,” said Lloyds There was no time for bedding down, he had to adjudicate The finger of doom went up Sarkar was on his way The replays showed he was dead right. The umpire at the bowler’s end, Jeremy Lloyds, is mildly nervous because this is his Test debut.
In truth, he could probably do with a few overs of forward props and gentle playing and missing to get used to the pace and the rhythm. Pedro Collins, left-arm over, whooshes by his right shoulder The ball is right on the button for length and swinging in. Gros Islet, St Lucia, late May this year, First Test, first ball, West Indies v Bangladesh, a lovely morning.