England's forgotten man, Taylor, was still there to shake hands on the draw, 204 not out after over eight hours at the crease.
By contrast the challenge of the five-day game shifts under the batsman's feet even as he is at the crease.
The quick had complained to the umpires about a damp patch on the crease after bowling three balls of the second over of the day.
Facebook Twitter Google plus Share Share this post Facebook Twitter Google plus close 9.23am GMT09:23 11th over: England 78-5 (Buttler 14, Bopara 5) Mark Taylor on Sky is furious about Morgan's run-out, saying that once the bat has been grounded in the crease a batsman shouldn't then be run out unless he leaves the crease again.
He and Goldsworthy crease up as I read out some recent tweets: "Unhealthy obsession with Olly Alexander"; "Olly Alexander is too cute".
Colin Graves, the new chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, pitched up for his first day at the crease already feeling battered and bruised by the all‑encompassing Kevin Pietersen saga that threatens to suck the whole of the sport into its vortex.
At the crease he holds himself with a crouched, dense, burrowing intensity, before punching at balls with the sudden anger of a caged rat.
So it was when I sat on the Warwick Road End's wooden benches to witness Ian Botham walk down the steps, through the members' seats to make his way to the crease in 1981 and thence on into history.
With this pair at the crease an interesting afternoon beckons.
Caps are not handed out for humour, however, and it is Wood's skiddy pace, generated from a short approach to the crease and a whippy action, that has led to him being retained from the Caribbean tour.
With deeds less heroic, but just maybe as significant, Luke Wood, Nottinghamshire's teenage all-rounder arrived at the crease with the score 98-7 and scored a round 100 from No9.
