David Warner has begun his latest stint as an Indian Premier League franchise captain with yet another half-century - but, ultimately, could only preside over a heavy defeat for his Delhi Capitals side.
Delhi's emphatic 50-run defeat at Lucknow Super Giants on Saturday was inspired by one of England's spearheads Mark Wood, who took 5-14 with the sort of blistering pace that Warner may experience in the Ashes in a couple of months time.
Chasing a formidable 6-193 from the home side in Lucknow, ignited by Barbadian Kyle Mayers' 73 off 38 balls, Warner, the third-highest run scorer in IPL history, top-scored with 56 off 48 balls.
Yet, in truth, the 36-year-old former Hyderabad captain who's now taken the reins at Delhi after original skipper Rishabh Pant's car accident, never looked like guiding his side to victory as the wickets tumbled around him.
His half-century was the 56th of his IPL career but he was not at his sharpest and his seven boundaries and a strike rate of 116.66 never looked as if it was going to be enough to keep Delhi in touch with the formidable run rate.
Largely, that was down to Wood, who took two wickets in consecutive balls in his opening over, clean bowling Prithvi Shaw with a beauty and then doing the same to in-form Australian star Mitch Marsh, who tried a loose stroke off a 147kph in-dipper.
Wood finished with 5-14 off his four overs - the best-ever figures by an Englishman in the IPL - in his first appearance in the competition for five years, as Delhi were restricted to 9-143.
"Last time I was here, I played for Chennai Super Kings (taking 0-48 in his one appearance) and it didn't go quite so well, so I wanted to try to make an impact this time. I'm delighted that it's gone well," said Wood.
Warner was suitably impressed by his potential Ashes foe. "We talk about building partnerships but you can't take it away from Wood," he said.
"He's an exceptional bowler and he showed his true talent and experience tonight. I felt like you were bowling on two different surfaces from either end.
"For us it's about going back to the drawing board now. It's one game. We go back to Delhi in front of our home crowd."
In the day's early rain-interrupted opening game, another fast bowler Arshdeep Singh spurred Punjab Kings to a seven-run victory over Kolkata Knight Riders on Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method.
Left-armer Arshdeep picked up 3-19 as Kolkata -- in pursuit of a 192-run target -- had reached 7-146 in 16 overs before heavy rain ruined the rest of the match.
Sri Lankan Bhanuka Rajapaksa had hit a 30-ball half-century with captain Shikar Dhawan making 40 and Sam Curran 26 not out in Punjab's 5-191.
Australian international Nathan Ellis made a useful contribution to the Kings' win, taking 1-27 off his three overs before the rains came.
