Something had to happen to disturb the sort of balmy calm that you're inclined to believe can only be found in paradise. And yesterday, of course, it did. A cool, persistent wind that could just as easily have blown in off the Atlantic coast, rather than the Persian Gulf, caused considerable distress to much of the field in the second round of the Dubai Desert Classic.

Known locally as the shamal, an exotic name for what is essentially a sandstorm, the wind earned precious few exotic words from players forced to contend with it. "I had to back off my drive three times on the 18th tee," remarked Colin Montgomerie, who had been in danger of missing his first cut in two years at that juncture, while Lee Westwood offered the opinion that it was "as close as you get to being unplayable."

Argentina's Jose Coceres proved it was playable. He contrived to defy its worse excesses in shooting a 69, to add to his opening 64, for a barely believable 36-holes total of 11-under-par 133, sufficient to move him into a four-shot lead over Jamie Spence who was another player to defy logic. He shot a best-of-the-day 67, including a run of five successive birdies, to jump into second place on his own.

But there's a long way to go yet, and the two leading Irish challengers - Paul McGinley and Darren Clarke - both offered up the hope that the desert wind would persist for another couple of days. The more disruption it causes, the better, appeared to be the gist of their views. The forecasters predict they'll have their wish for today's third round, but normal conditions (that is, perfect golfing weather) are expected to return tomorrow.

By then, Clarke anticipates he'll be in the thick of the hunt.

A second round of 70 for three-under-par 141 enabled Clarke to move through the field. But not with any stealth. Since his matchplay final win over Tiger Woods, everyone is taking notice of the big Irishman.

In the first round, he had laboured to rediscover the timing that brought him victory in California. Yesterday, it returned. "The swing was exactly the same, but my head was still a little bit tired. My concentration wasn't quite as sharp as I would have liked it," said Clarke, adding: "I had a couple of silly three-putts. But my first goal, after the sort of few days I had in the run-up, was to make the cut, and I've done it. I'll go on from here and hopefully knock in a few putts over the weekend."

McGinley, who continued his fine early-season form with a well-worked 72 after the round threatened to slip away from him - to finish on five-under-par 139, in a tie for seventh - was philosophical. "The wind was strong and tricky, but nothing that we're not used to in Ireland."

An untypical putting error on the second green, his 11th hole, knocked McGinley into life. Having missed the green with his teeshot, he pitched to two feet. Bizarrely, he failed to hole the par putt - "It seemed to get caught in the wind, and it spun out," he explained - and, disconcerted, then missed another tiddler back. He walked off with a double bogey five.

However, three birdies in the closing six holes rescued his card.

Others felt the wind got tougher as the day progressed. Justin Leonard is no stranger to such conditions, having played college golf in "dust storms in Texas where we'd hit the shot and couldn't even see it finish." However, the American felt that hitting into the wind was regularly costing 50 yards in length yesterday, something acknowledged by Coceres.

Coceres attributed his ability to play in the wind to his swing. "I hit the ball very low, and that helps," he said. But he also holed some useful putts - including a 30 footer for birdie at the first, his 10th - that kept him on the offensive.

While Coceres moved four shots clear of Spence, with a quartet of players - Greg Owen, Paul Affleck, Jose Rivero and Thomas Bjorn - a further shot back in tied-third, there was a degree of tribulation at the opposite end of the scoreboard with some players, like Montgomerie, fighting to survive to the weekend. In the end, Monty finished with three pars to make it by one stroke.

Gary Murphy and Des Smyth, meanwhile, also survived. But right on the cut mark, which came at three-over. For Murphy, especially, it was a frustrating day. He started out on four-under-par and birdied the first hole. Then, it all went wrong: he three-putted the second, hit his tee-shot out-of-bounds at the third and finished with a triple bogey seven on his way to 42 shots by the turn.

However, the Kilkenny player showed character on the homeward run to grab birdies at the 10th and 13th and, despite a dropped shot at the 16th, was one-over for the tournament playing the last hole. Left with 159 yards to the pin, he used a four-iron for his approach and landed on the rocks in front of the green. Murphy opted to play off the rocky surface but skidded the ball some 25 feet beyond the pin and then three-putted. It took a long afternoon of waiting - and the wind to continue sending scores sky-high - to guarantee him his place for the weekend. But Ronan Rafferty (five-over) and Eamonn Darcy (11-over) both missed out.

With the shamal due to reappear for today's third round, there is likely to be a degree of luck involved in the title's ultimate destination.