It was a welcome return to run-scoring ways for Cook, England’s most prolific run-scorer of all time in Test cricket. Since scoring 243 against the Windies at Edgbaston in August 2017, Cook had scored one more double – 244* against Australia in Melbourne during the Ashes – but had a best score of 39 in his other 16 innings in this period.

Especially in New Zealand, he had a torrid time against Trent Boult, managing just 5, 2, 2 and 14.

“It did swing and it did nip throughout the day,” agreed Cook. “Obviously, it did do probably a bit more than we expected it to. It was a hard decision. It will be easy at the end of the game to see if it was the right decision. Fundamentally, it’s a dry wicket underneath but it had green grass on it and it rained overnight so it’s a weird one.

“Pakistan bowled good lines and lengths for the majority of the time and they got their rewards for it. (But) 50-1 can very quickly be 80-4, 120-7 and the game changes so that’s the beauty of Test cricket. It’s a five-day Test match. There’s a lot of things that can happen. In the long form of the game, you can have a not great day but you have a chance to bounce back.”