David Graveney, chairman of selectors, was clearly not amused as he and Alec Stewart contemplated the slate-grey strip and commented: ``It looks more like a Colombo wicket than an English one.''
Croft was telephoned at home while the rest of the team were already undergoing net practice and did not join his colleagues until last night. ``I don't know if I'll play,'' he said before setting off, ``but I'm delighted to get another chance.''
The Welshman's inclusion meant that the party nominated for this one-off Cornhill Test had swollen to 14 and the selectors straightaway slimmed it by one, sending pace bowler Alan Mullally back to Leicestershire in time for his county's crucial championship fixture just up the road at Trent Bridge today.
With an apology to supporters of championship leaders Surrey who might well have hoped that if anyone was to be released in time to represent their club it would be Ben Hollioake - Graveney then explained: ``Mullally has been 12th man twice this summer and I felt obligated in terms of the gentlemen's agreement with counties since Leicestershire are involved in the title race.''
The dressing room numbers may soon be reduced to 12 since Nasser Hussain was said by Graveney to be ``extremely doubtful'' for the Test following the groin injury he sustained in last week's Emirates Triangular Tournament final at Lord's. ``There is no point in risking a worsening of the injury,'' Graveney said.
Hussain felt a tear while attempting a run out throw against Sri Lanka but said that a scan had revealed no need for an operation. ``Just rest and treatment. I reckon it's 70-30 against me playing here,'' he said.
John Crawley is expected to take over the No 6 batting position instead of Hussain with Graeme Hick moving up to his normal position at No 3.
This probably leaves the selectors to choose between Dominic Cork and Hollioake, with the Surrey player likely to be excluded from the final line-up for the second time this summer.
That is a decision which will also depend on a further reading of the pitch. Graveney said: ``It doesn't seem the kind of wicket we would have expected in terms of grass cover. By bringing Croft up, this gives us an extra option. Pace and bounce was what we would have wanted.''
Knowing the strength of the Sri Lanka spin attack, Graveney conceded that England's best chance of winning would have been with their seamers. ``But if we have to play two spinners we are confident they will bowl Sri Lanka out,'' he said.
When it was pointed out that neither Croft nor Ian Salisbury have taken a Test wicket this summer, Graveney said: ``That is the past. We always look to the future'' - to which someone unkindly responded ``but the future is based on the past.''
Graveney said that there had been ``no consultation'' between the England selectors and Oval groundsman Paul Brind in terms of what kind of pitch to prepare.
He explained that the ground authority together with the ECB's cricket secretary John Carr and chairman of the pitches committee, Mike Denness, were the people involved in instructions regarding the nature of Test wickets.
The selectors had talked to Carr and Denness at the start of the season about the kind of pitches England would like to see ``but that is all the contact we have had.''
Sri Lankan manager Ranjit Fernando also expressed some surprise at the character of the pitch - recalling that Pakistan off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq has taken 40 wickets in four games here at little more than 12 runs each.
``We had originally thought about playing three seam bowlers along with Muttiah Muralitharan. Now we are considering whether to bring in one or two more slow bowlers,'' he said.