While England’s bowlers quickly became sick of Steve Smith piling on the runs, Foakes saw it as a learning opportunity. He closely studied the Australian captain’s unorthodox technique and used the time on the sidelines to implement similar methods.

“I made a couple of changes to my technique over the winter, mainly with my trigger movement,” Foakes told South London Press in June. “I used to put a lot of weight on my front foot – my strength was on the leg side and on my front foot. But I found with so much weight on my front there was nowhere to go if the ball was nipping around.

What does this mean for the future? With Jonny Bairstow likely to be fit for the second Test, it leaves England in a dilemma as to their batting line-up for Pallekele. As important as he has been to the England cause, Bairstow is only averaging 26.88 with the bat in Tests this year and, despite being fairly impressive behind the sumps over the past three years, is an inferior gloveman to Foakes, who Surrey head coach Alec Stewart believes is ‘the best in the world’.

England will want their best keeper for the turning tracks in this series and it seems that Foakes is indeed that man. In addition, he offers a different style with the bat than the rest of his teammates. England have been criticised, sometimes heavily, for being over-aggressive in the approach to getting on top of opposition bowling. Foakes, however, bases his batting around a rock-solid defence and less risky strokeplay. He should offer a calm head to an often wild batting line-up.

Foakes is an example of someone who is willing to be receptive in order to improve their game. He will have been disappointed not to play in Australia, yet long-term, that Ashes trip looks to have been the catalyst to him becoming a more accomplished batsman. And his Galle effort looks to be just the start of a potentially successful England career.