Giles the 'pinball wizard'

But while England's fast bowlers clearly have a huge job on their hands if they are to win a Test series in the West Indies for the first time in 36 years, Giles's role is going to be vital. Vaughan will look to his left-arm spinner to keep a lid on things when the home batsmen are coming to the boil. For England-to triumph, though, Giles must be a significant wicket-taker as well - and that means succeeding against players who, following Lara's example, are liable to attack him from the outset.

Lara's approach often works, too, with Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan having felt the full weight of his bat.

But the policy of aggression can backfire. For example, when West Indies almost lost to Zimbabwe in Harare before Christmas, he tried to hit left-armer Ray Price out of the ground and was caught.

Giles has never bowled to Lara in a match situation but knows what to expect.

"Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist are certainly destructive against spin and I think Lara is in that mould," said Giles.

"But where Brian is slightly different is that he uses his feet a lot more. I think he will look to come down the pitch and go big with his shots quite a lot.

"Brian is the sort of guy who likes to devastate spinners as soon as they come on. It's going to be important for me to mix up my pace and variations as much as I can to try to keep him guessing."