But the tour selectors, keen to have him ready for the third Test in Durban, starting on Boxing Day, have wisely decided not to risk the big opening batsman in the crucial four-day match against the South Africa ``A'' team, starting here today.
``Philo's getting stronger by the day and is obviously keen to get back into action,'' manager Clive Lloyd said last night.
``But we want to ensure he is fully recovered in time for the third Test and we'll see how he goes with another week's rest, and practice.''
The West Indies, in the desperate position of two down in the series with three to play, are treating the match as virtually the start of the tour.
``We want to regard this as the first match of the rest of the tour,'' Lloyd said. ``We need to put what has gone on before behind us, while still learning from it, and to concentrate on what has effectively become a three-match series for us.''
West Indies will use the match to sort out several unsettled positions for the Durban Test.
The questions to which they will seek answers over the next four days are who should open the batting if Wallace returns? Who will go in No. 3 now that captain Brian Lara has indicated it will not be him? Who is to bat at No. 6? And which bowlers will provide support for the tireless Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh, both of whose aging and experienced bodies are properly kept in cotton wool?
In Wallace's absence, Clayton Lambert and Stuart Williams will again go in first today. There is foolhardy talk of experimenting with Carl Hooper at No. 3.
Depending on the returns in this match, there is the not preposterous prospect of Junior Murray filling No. 6 purely as a batsman in the Test if Wallace still hasn't recovered from his illness and if Floyd Reifer and the teenaged Daren Ganga are again found wanting over the next four days.
So far, Nixon McLean has been the third fast bowler in both Tests. Rawl Lewis' leg-spin was used as the fourth specialist bowler in the first, Merv Dillon pace in the second.
In the end, virtually everything revolved around Ambrose and Walsh to the extent that Lara lost confidence in anyone else and they lost confidence in themselves.
All four play against South Africa with the responsibility solely on their shoulders in the absence of Ambrose and Walsh who have carried the attack in the Tests. The tour selectors will be observing closely.
Lara said yesterday he wanted to have all possible options come Christmas Day selection of the third Test XI.
``We have 16 guys here and we are a team,'' he said. ``We have batsmen capable of batting anywhere, as we saw with Shiv (Chanderpaul) who batted 22 overs when he was pressed into opening the batting.''
He hinted that Murray was a change in a batting team that has failed repeatedly.
``It's nice to know you have a second string wicket-keeper who is also capable with the bat,'' Lara said after Murray's accomplished unbeaten 46 against a Natal XI in a one-day match at Chatsworth on Wednesday.
``Junior has a Test hundred and a couple of 50s and it's nice to know that option is available if needed.''
In fact, Murray's Test average of 25 after 29 Tests is better than either Williams' 24 after 28 Tests or Reifer's. He also has been consistently the Windward Islands' leading batsman in the regional first-class tournaments.
It is a sad, but apt, commentary on the state of West Indian batting when a wicket-keeper with what is, after all, a modest record is being considered for the No. 6 position. But it is realistic.
The continuing problems at No. 3 that is occupied by the holder of the individual world record Test and first-class scores is also indicative of the traumas that continue to unbalance the West Indies.
Lara has not scored a hundred now for 10 Tests - and only three in his last 22 - and has chosen to drop at least one place down the list.
Pointing out that No. 3 remains his most successful position he has scored eight of his 10 Test hundreds there, including his record 375 and his unforgettable 277 in Sydney - Lara said the failure of the openers so far had caused him to rethink his role.
``Going in at No. 3, you usually expect an hour or so to pass before you go in but I've found myself opening a lot of the time,'' he said, referring to first wicket partnerships of 17, 24, nought and three in the current series.
``Coming in lower is an opportunity to assess the situation and try to dictate terms.''
It was a change made in Australia two years ago under Courtney Walsh's captaincy when Glenn McGrath repeatedly removed Lara cheaply.
Chanderpaul was then promoted to No. 3, an adjustment he comfortably made, scoring his maiden Test hundred, 137 not out, against India at Kensington Oval.
If Lara does demote himself, Chanderpaul is temperamentally and technically the best suited in the team to move back up. This match will reveal the thinking.
Teams:
West Indies (from): Brian Lara (captain), Clayton Lambert, Stuart Williams, Daren Ganga, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Carl Hooper, Floyd Reifer, Junior Murray, Nixon McLean, Rawl Lewis, Franklyn Rose, Merv Dillon.
South Africa ``A'': Nic Pothas (captain), Sven Koenig, Martin van Jaarsveld, Boetha Dippenaar, Ashwell Prince, Justin Kemp, Lance Kluesner, Shafiek Abrahams, Paul Adams, Makhaya Ntini, Charl Willoughby; 12th man: Victor Mpitsang.