Roy, who moved down the order after his struggles against the new ball, scored 22 before he fell to Josh Hazlewood, as England went to stumps at 200-5 at the end of the third day’s play in the fourth Test at Old Trafford.

He had walked in when Hazlewood was in the middle of a fiery spell of fast bowling, having had Burns caught in the slips on 81. Playing out 10 balls, he unleashed a cover drive off Hazlewood to get off the mark. He went into double digits for the first time in the series, before Hazlewood flattened his middle stump with a sharp in-swinger, dismissing him for the third time in the series.

The Surrey batsman was targetted with short-pitched stuff by the Australian quicks on quite a few occasions during his 185-ball stay at the crease. Yet, he continued his resistance till the 65th over.

“They set out pretty clearly what they wanted to do on a surface that wasn’t offering masses in terms of seam movement,” Burns said. “It is probably not a bad plan but, like Steve (Smith) said, you are not worrying about your off stump too much. You can get in and under stuff, and bat long periods of time.

“It was a scrap, mentally challenging, but one that was quite enjoyable.”