HOW many roads must Ed Smith walk down before he is called an England batsman again? Probably quite a few, but the Bob Dylan fan chose the musician’s 65th birthday to score his first championship hundred of 2006 for Middlesex. In outshining Warwickshire, the times might be a-changing for the first division’s bottom club.

Smith is anxious to add to the three England caps he earned in 2003, but 16 players have made their debut since him — eight will play at Edgbaston today and he is down the pecking order. Owais Shah, his team-mate, can share the frustration. He made 88 and 38 in his only Test in March and has been forgotten. Shah made 73 yesterday in a second-wicket stand of 133 with Smith.

The Warwickshire bowling was toothless, especially at the start, when Smith and Ben Hutton reached 50 in the eleventh over, and straight after tea, when Middlesex added 50 in eight overs. Hutton gave Nick Knight a catch low to his right off Dougie Brown from the ninth ball after lunch — the last before a rain break. Shah was then out leg-before to a ball from Heath Streak that appeared to be missing leg stump.

It was not the worst decision of the day. That belonged to Streak, the Warwickshire captain, who put Middlesex in. He made the same choice against Hampshire in his previous match and saw the opposition make 405 on the way to an innings win. Perhaps he thought something was blowing in the wind.