``We've had a look at the pitch and now we have to decide whether we include a spinner or go in with the usual four fast bowlers,'' Lloyd said by telephone from the team's hotel.
``We've had this situation before where the surfaces have looked bare and without grass and our fast bowlers have done well on them.''
The hint was that leg-spinner Rawl Lewis would be considered before the tour selectors made the unsurprising choice of pace, with Carl Hooper to provide relief with his off-spin.
``Yes, I think that his name would be among those that we will be thinking of,'' Lloyd said.
Even though it was against only modest opposition, without any Test players, Lloyd was encouraged by the performance in the four-day match against Dr.A.Q. Khan's XI in nearby Rawalpindi last week, the only first-class match leading up to the Test.
The manager said that after losing all three matches in the quadrangular One-Day series, it was reassuring for the West Indies to have a good match prior to the Test.
``The players who are new to Pakistan adapted pretty well and that was good to see,'' he added.
The West Indies opted for practice for the batsmen of whom opener Sherwin Campbell shook off a sequence of single-figure scores with 76 and 54, Phil Simmons scored 73, Carl Hooper an unbeaten 73 and Philo Wallace a second innings 142. It was Wallace's highest first-class score, on his first appearance for the tour after recovering from a chipped bone on his left index finger.
The only batsman to really miss out was Roland Holder who was out for one in the first innings and was eight not out when the second innings declaration was made. Since he played only once in the quadrangular series, when he was out for two, he is almost certain to lose the No.6 position he held in the seven Tests against India and Sri Lanka in the Caribbean earlier in the year.
Simmons, whose last two innings have been 70 and 73, is likely to resume his chequered Test career. It would be the 34-year-old Trinidadian's 26th Test in ten years of international cricket.
Another option would be to include Wallace, using either him or Campbell at No.3. But Lloyd indicated he won't be risked as wicket-keeper, a position that will be taken by the No.1, David Williams.
``Philo did a pretty good job behind the stumps in Rawalpindi but heÕs inexperienced and we wouldnÕt want to put him in a Test, not knowing how he would react, for instance, if he dropped a catch or had a few bad overs,'' Lloyd said.
Captain Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose, the key, but aging, fast bowlers, were rested for the Rawalpindi match which means they would not have bowled outside the nets since the quadrangular tournament nearly two weeks ago.
Ambrose has fully recovered from the sore right shoulder that kept him out of the final match in the quadrangular against Pakistan and he and Walsh are certain to share the new ball. It is Walsh's third Test tour of Pakistan, Ambrose's second.
Lloyd refused to read anything into the omission of Waqar Younis, one of the game's finest fast bowlers, from the Pakistan team. Waqar has taken 231 wickets in 47 Tests but was reportedly dropped for lack of form after managing only four wickets in the preceding series of three Tests against South Africa.
``We won't be lulled into any false sense of security because he's not in the side,'' Lloyd said. ``We've still got to go out there and play and we know theyÕve got a strong attack.
``What they do with their side is their business, we have to concentrate on ours.''