It wasn't the latest of the first- day flops that have so often left the West Indies, in the words of captain Brian Lara, "coming from behind the eight-ball each and every time."
Nor was 275 for six, from the 70.5 overs possible before fading light and rain ended the day, nearly enough to match Lara's hopes of trying "to set the pace, take the lead and stay in front."
It should have been, after heartening performances by two members of the youth brigade, Sylvester Joseph on debut and Dwayne Bravo, and the familiar reliability of Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
The promise of something like 300 for three was wasted by the old, annoying habit of losing wickets in a cluster just at the most inopportune time, some to inappropriate strokes against average bowling on a favourable pitch.
Joseph and Sarwan put on 75 for the second wicket. Then they and Lara himself were out in the space of half-hour while 23 were scored.
Chanderpaul, with another unruffled innings of 76 that raised his tally in five innings for the series to 389 runs, and Bravo, with a classy 77, restored the balance.
Their sensible, counter -attacking strokeplay yielded a parnertship of 157 in 34 overs at better than run-a-minute before England regained the initiative once more when they were out in successive overs from Matthew Hoggard with the rain and bad light that ended play 20 overs prematurely less that 50 minutes away.
On winning the toss, Lara reversed his decision that cost him so heavily in the first Test at Lord's.
It would have been more understandable had he chosen to bowl this time. The sky was grey, heavy overnight rain delayed the start by an hour, the conditions were humid and the pitch carried more of a green tinge than at Lord's.
But batting is the West Indies' strongest suit and, even with a new opening batsman, batting first was the only logical decision.
After the early loss of Chris Gayle, to an uncertain stab to cover off Hoggard following a couple of softening blows from Steve Harmison at the opposite end, Joseph and Ramnaresh Sarwan were preparing the way for the sort of total Lara would have had in mind after winning the toss.
By mid-afternoon, with Joseph batting with the aplomb of a veteran and Sarwan well entrenched, a long, hard afternoon seemed to lie ahead for England.
A matter of 5.4 overs demonstrated the difference between a confident, well balanced team untroubled by a stalling partnership and one so uncertain of itself it finds it difficult to seize the moment.
Suddenly, Sarwan, playing serenely for 40 in an hour-and-a-half, offered a loose drive in the first over of Andy Flintoff's second spell and dragged an ordinary ball back into his stumps, precisely as he had done to end his first innings 139 at Edgbaston.
To the next ball, at the opposite end, Joseph, at 34, escaped on a lap-high catch to Thorpe at third slip off James Anderson's outswing. It was an early warning signal for the 25-year-old Antiguan.
Lara then exposed his leg-stump to the fifth ball he received and Flintoff duly hit it with a delivery of full length.
It heightened the assertion that the West Indies captain is, indeed, disconcerted by England's newest Ian Botham and triggered the memory of his identical first-ball dismissal to Craig White in the Oval Test four years ago.
The effect of Lara's wicket on the West Indies is akin to that on a governing party whose prime minister has just lost his seat.
The opposition, on the field and in the Old Trafford stands packed to capacity, celebrated long and noisily. Flintoff, after all, was returning to the ground that is his home.
As the reliable Chanderpaul joined Joseph, who had batted with sound judgement for two-and-a-half hours, it was time for consolidation.
But Joseph was passing through a period in which his concentration was clearly waning and, 20 minutes after Lara walked from the ground, he fell to a weak stroke in the lively Harmison's first over of a new spell.
Playing with bat well away from body, he deflected a catch to third slip that allowed Thorpe to make amends for his earlier miss.
Joseph replaced Devon Smith, one of four West Indies changes, as recognition of his form in the matches outside the Test. It was his first go at opening at any level and he fit right into the part.
As he left at 108 for four, the initiative was back with England.
Bravo - with 10, 13, 0, 3 and 5 as his last five innings - arrived with no batting form to recommend him and only Carlton Baugh, in as 'keeper for the injured Ridley Jacobs, and the three fast bowlers remaining.
A total of around 200 loomed. The West Indies were again behind the eight ball.
Chanderpaul's qualities have been long since established, Bravo now set about confirming his.
In the hour to tea, they put together 48 with no bother.
Giles was predictably introduced to confront Bravo who had fallen to him in his three previous innings, uncertain how to cope with his left-arm spin from over the wicket.
This was a first-day pitch and not Edgbaston on the third and fourth and Bravo found Giles an entirely less challenging proposition.
He gathered his runs with neat strokes off his legs and a couple of cuts but the best of his 10 fours was a classical extra-cover drive off Giles.
Chanderpaul simply continued where he left off in his earlier innings at Lord's and Edgbaston, collecting his runs with strokes on both sides of the wicket and off both back and front feet.
The first eight overs in the extended final session brought 57 runs, among them Chanderpaul's top-edged hook for six off Flintoff that simultaneously raised his 50 and the 100 stand.
They were within sight of the end of a satisfying day when both fell.
Bravo spoiled his notable effort with a careless stroke, pursuing a wide one with a lavish drive that he only managed to touch to the keeper.
It was a disappointing end to two-and-a-half hours that confirmed Bravo's arrival as the all-rounder the West Indies have missed for so long.
In his next over, Hoggard sent one so wide it was so given by umpire Simon Taufel. Next ball, angled across the left-hander from over the wicket, induced a flirt outside off-stump and Geraint Jones pouched his second catch within a few minutes.
It left Baugh and the bowlers to see what they can cobble together for the remainder of the innings.