When it was suggested that he was speaking through clenched teeth, Lloyd said: ``This has been just the typical ebb and flow of a Test match. All right, we are on the back foot now but we will come out and try to bounce back just as South Africa did.

``I don't want to be over-fanciful. We could be in a far healthier position, but we are very capable of getting back into this game.''

He scoffed at suggestions there was anything unusual in Dean Headley bowling bouncers to Allan Donald. ``So he bowled a couple of short balls to a number 10. If that's what it takes to fire Donald up there is something wrong - it's just part of the game.''

Jonty Rhodes however conceded that ``maybe it wasn't a wise thing'' for Headley to do: the effect appeared to gee up Donald.

Rhodes was only mildly excited at his second Test hundred. ``If it helps us win the game, that's fine. If we don't then it's just a name on the board.

``I'm not a man for statistics,'' he added, then noticed in his audience the United Cricket Board's managing director, Dr Ali Bacher. ``Perhaps I shouldn't have said that: the doctor will dock my salary.''

Now 28, Rhodes confessed that the thought of being one of the team's senior players was disconcerting. ``I thought I would always be the Peter Pan of the team and never grow old. I reckon I'm just lucky to be in the side with a man like Brian McMillan on the sidelines.''

In 1994, Rhodes, an epileptic, went to hospital after being hit on the side of the temple at the Oval by Devon Malcolm. Yesterday he was hit on the front of his helmet by Headley but said ``I feel some soreness. It didn't make my dizzy this time. It made me concentrate more.''