Ollie Robinson doubt for first Test as Mark Wood and Ben Stokes return to action

Ollie Robinson’s hopes of appearing in England’s first Test against the West Indies hung in the balance as he sat out the final day of warm-up action in Antigua, but Mark Wood and Ben Stokes made welcome returns to the bowling attack.

Selection matters seemed trivial when news broke of Shane Warne’s death shortly after play began on the fourth morning at the Coolidge Cricket Ground – with England already wearing black armbands in honour of the late Rod Marsh and joining the CWI President’s XI in observing a minute’s silence after a rain delay allowed the tragic development to be shared.

But with just four days to go before the series begins at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, the tourists were forced to shelve their visible shock and refocus on the task at hand.

Robinson had left the field with a back spasm on Thursday, having suffered similar problems at the end of the Ashes, and despite walking laps of the boundary he was unable to return to the field as the game drifted towards a draw.

It would now represent a huge long shot for England to risk the 28-year-old paceman, whose conditioning has been previously called into question by team management.

All of which places even more importance on Wood, who was alone among Englishmen in seeing his stock rise during the 4-0 defeat in Australia. Wood did not feature in the first three days of this practice outing, having suffered from illness and been sent for precautionary blood tests, but he was back on parade in the morning and joined the attack after the tourists declared their second innings 366 ahead on 164 for four.

The Durham quick sent down nine overs in total – neatly divided into three sets of three – and showed no adverse reaction as he hit a good pace without