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As England trained during the morning, New Zealand coach John Bracewell was on a similar mission, sitting unobtrusively at the back of the press box to observe the first part of the Kenya innings.

I doubt he was worried by Canada’s batsmen, and neither will England be. Kenya, with their record of giant-killing and some high-class fielding, may force a little more consideration. Their tactic of using three slow bowlers through the middle of the innings suits this Beausejour wicket perfectly.

All conjecture about the possibility of missing England’s opening game on Friday must now be forgotten. He and Jamie Dalrymple will be called upon to apply the brakes through the middle of the innings, taking advantage of a little turn available on a slow, low surface.

Meanwhile, Bracewell will be putting the final touches to plans to unleash Daniel Vettori and young off-spinner Jeetan Patel.

If there’s a batsman who can prosper here it may be Paul Collingwood, in form after back-to-back tons in Australia and able to manufacture runs against even the most stifling bowling.

There are apparently 12,000 fans watching Kenya and Canada, although by the blocks of schoolchildren in brightly-coloured uniforms it looks like most of those tickets were given away.

I haven’t spotted any Kenya fans, but maple leaf flags are in evidence and a few England fans have also taken the chance to catch a game rather than going to the beach.

Having been briefed on Vaughan’s unclandestine plans, we departed for the game by car and had a stroke of luck as we managed to tag on the end of the England entourage.

Traffic was held back by policemen on motorbikes with lights flashing, until they realised we were just average joes, overtook and left us to the traffic jam.