BIRMINGHAM, July 28: West Indies captain Brian Lara could be making a final return to his former home ground of Edgbaston on Thursday for the second Test against England, though few are expecting the Trinidadian to be too sentimental.

Lara, who played for Warwickshire in the mid-1990s and scored a world first-class record 501 not out there, will be more concerned about levelling the Test series against England.

"I have very good memories there. Hopefully the pitch will be a bit different from Lord's," said left-hander Lara after his side lost the first Test to England by 210 runs on Monday.

"The performance in the Lord's test improved after the first day and we have just got to focus on the job we have to do." The West Indies bowlers conceded 391 runs on the first day at Lord's, their fielders dropped too many catches and appeared lackadaisical, and their batting, aside from the gritty Shivnarine Chanderpaul, was cavalier.

So cavalier, in fact, that on the final day when they should have been batting for a draw, fast bowler Tino Best was reportedly taunted by England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff into advancing down the pitch to left-arm spinner Ashley Giles.

Best did so, swinging wildly, and was easily stumped by Geraint Jones. Flintoff then spent the next 10 minutes chuckling to himself while Best sat in the stand, looking thoroughly bewildered.

Despite the heavy loss, West Indies did show some fight, particularly Chanderpaul, who ran out of partners in the second innings and just failed to match England captain Michael Vaughan in scoring a century in both innings.

Chanderpaul scored 128 not out in the first and was left stranded on 97 in the second. Vaughan, whose batting had been under scrutiny, scored 103 and 101 not out to become just the third man to score a century in each innings at Lord's.

England will again be without the injured Mark Butcher for the test, although the Surrey left-hander may well have been pushed to regain his place with his replacement Robert Key hitting a commanding 221 in England's first innings at Lord's.

West Indies have won four of their seven Tests against England at Edgbaston, including the last two by an innings. Two of the Tests have been drawn. The tourists have included fast bowler Corey Collymore in their 12-man squad for the injured Ravi Rampaul, who has been sent home.

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