WARWICKSHIRE wheeled out Gladstone Small, a venerable one-day specialist, and Phil Tufnell was politely asked to play his first limited-overs game of any description this season. Pace easily trumped spin and Small finished with Sunday-best figures of five for 18.

There was not much joy or doubt in the game once Small had mangled Middlesex's ambitions but at least, by way of a Warwickshire postscript, there was Brian Lara. The West Indian came in at six to score 26 not out in 20 balls, with three fours and a big six into the Warner Stand.

Five thousand or so people watched it all, partly as tribute to Middlesex's captain, Keith Brown, whose benefit game this was.

However, their day out withered quickly. Brown scored 28 and Tim Bloomfield and Tufnell (who denied Small a hat-trick) added 23 for the last wicket. Yet only five fours came off the bat on a ground which had just produced nearly 1,300 runs in a championship match.

The key to it all was the pitch. The one used for the county game, just below the Mound Stand, was hard and benevolent. The one employed for this Sunday knockabout was dusty and untrusty. Hence Tufnell's call to action - but he had no success in six overs.

Bloomfield and Keith Dutch, with his off-spin, took two Warwickshire wickets each but once Lara joined Trevor Penney, in the 18th over with a score at 63 for four, Middlesex were hurtled towards their fourth defeat in six AXA games. Warwickshire, in the end, had 16.3 overs to spare.

The pitch used for the county match would have served everyone better. In the event, as a contest and as an entertainment, this game satisfied few. Lara's comment: ``Not a good pitch. A score of 150 would have been challenging.''