On a day of hectic off-the-field activity Glamorgan's opening batsman Steve James was called into an England Test party at the 11th hour for the second time this summer.

Mike Atherton's chronic back condition, spondylitis, flared up sufficiently on Tuesday for James to be summoned to the Oval from the bedside of his wife Jane, who is expecting their first child in a Cardiff hospital. His Glamorgan colleague, Robert Croft, had also been recalled by England only 24 hours earlier when the selectors decided after looking at a dry Oval pitch that they wanted the option of playing a second spinner.

The chairman of England's selectors, David Graveney, said that Atherton would not have been fit to play had the game been starting yesterday. The former captain, who scored 493 runs in the five Tests against South Africa, has to take anti-inflammatory pills daily but the adrenalin flow which accompanies a Test match appearance usually sorts out his problem on the morning of a match: he has played for England in 63 consecutive Test matches, only two short of the English record, jointly held by Ian Botham and Alan Knott.

James, 30, Atherton's opening partner at Cambridge, won his first cap after three prolific seasons for Glamorgan when Mark Butcher had to pull out of the Lord's Test.

Hollioake's slackness will not affect his chances of playing today. The last place rests between himself and Croft. It was at the Oval two years ago that his former Surrey colleague, Chris Lewis, was dropped for arriving late on the fourth day of the Test against Pakistan.

However, Hollioake, is still in the honeymoon phase of an England career which started promisingly last year. His alarm call at the team's hotel in Chelsea apparently failed. The decision to fine him was taken by Bob Bennett, chairman of England's management committee.