The outburst of booing and barracking which greeted the players at intervals on Saturday was a rare phenomenon on our Test grounds. Stewart was jeered into the pavilion following his dismissal.

This behaviour came at a time when the conduct of Test crowds is already under the spotlight following a succession of rowdy scenes at the Edgbaston Test last month. But a subsequent ban on spectators bringing their own alcohol into the ground for the Manchester Test and restrictions on eccentric headgear and clothing was not sufficient to prevent the latest outburst.

Although verbal abuse of players and officials is not unique in Test cricket, it has been rare in the past decade. Umpires Dickie Bird and David Constant were jeered and jostled by - of all people - MCC members when they declined to bring the sides back on to the field at Lord's because of bad light during the Centenary Test between England and Australia in 1980. Cushions were thrown on to the playing area from the stands, a scene that has been repeated at Lord's more than once in recent years.

In 1988, a summer when England had four captains, the Old Trafford crowd barracked their team after West Indies had won by an innings and 156 runs. There was a similar noisy expression of displeasure on the same ground a year later when Australia retained the Ashes with a nine-wicket victory - the supporters particularly upset at the revelation that a large portion of the England team had just signed up for a rebel tour of South Africa.

Over the four days of this weekend's Test the ground authorities slightly relaxed their blanket ban on weird headgear: a group wearing Viking helmets were let in on Friday and a fan dressed as the Devil was also sighted. But the authorities at Old Trafford have stuck rigorously to the bar on people bringing in their own alcohol to the public seats. A member of the ``Barmy Army'' described this as a ``killjoy attitude''.

Lancashire's answer is to cite the evidence of the mound of rubbish left behind at Old Trafford after last summer's Ashes game when there were many complaints of bad behaviour. Jim Cumbes, Lancashire's chief executive, said: ``We found that most cans thrown away were of six and seven per cent gravity beer. Four of those can make you want to fly. At our bars we sell only three per cent gravity beer. That way people can have a drink but not upset those who come purely to watch the game.''

Disparity in crowds for the first four days of each of the three Cornhill Tests suggests most interest lies in the capital with waning support as the game moves north. At Lord's there was a capacity attendance of 110,000, while in Birmingham about 60,000 turned up but so far Manchester has attracted just over 50,000.