It’s lunch on day one, and England are already well on top. The four horsemen are dovetailing beautifully, Pakistan are two down, and Shan Masood, having battled through perhaps the toughest two hours of his Test career, has only laid the platform for the strike-rate criticism to come. But that first session is one of the last England will win in a game dominated by Pakistan, and yet it’s a game which will be won by England in the glow late on day four. This is the story of the Miracle of Manchester.

Soon after that first interval, the tide begins to turn. James Anderson bowls two clip balls which Babar Azam dispatches with ease, and the rest of England’s attack begins to follow suit. Between lunch and the day’s second rain delay, Pakistan notch 68 runs in 17 overs. Nasser Hussain calls England’s efforts “absolutely pants”. What follows the resumption is worse still, with Joe Root choosing to bowl in tandem with Dom Bess in the gloom rather than concede the light and return with those quicks in the morning. 17 runs are leaked. Pakistan reach stumps 139-2.

Considering that England’s bowling attack is among the best they’ve ever fielded, the day has gone about as well as it could have for the tourists, but that evening Masood cops that scoring rate flak, from people who you would think had not only not watched Dom Sibley bat against West Indies but never seen Test cricket played anywhere, and Misbah-ul-Haq deflects blows after asking former captain Sarfaraz Ahmed to carry drinks. Such is life in the world of Pakistan cricket.

There, no emotion is ever loosely carried, and the corollary to the criticism is that those who shine can quickly win the adoration of a nation. After his dancing, dashing half-century, Babar’s ascension to the Big Five is complete. Masood, you fancy, patiently digging in at the other end, doesn’t mind ducking the limelight. His eight previous innings against England have brought six dismissals by Anderson and an average of 16.12. He’d take survival and allowing the rest to bat around him.

But when the crown prince nicks off without adding to his overnight total and Asad Shafiq and Mohammad Rizwan fall soon after, all of a sudden Pakistan’s hopes live or die with Masood. All he’ll have for company is Shadab Khan – the most debated of Pakistan’s selections – and four blokes who average 13, 7, 5 and 4.

But just because the toughness doesn’t reveal itself on the surface doesn’t mean it’s not there. While it’s polite to rise above any potential press pot shots in public, it takes something else to put it to one side internally and bowl as well as you ever have anyway. Woakes has done this before, of course. After six Tests, his bowling average was north of 60, and he’d just been pumped around Centurion by Quinton de Kock. He was left out for England’s first Test of the 2016 summer against Sri Lanka.

Someone with less resolve might consider their chance gone. Instead, he claimed innings figures of 9-36 for Warwickshire, won a recall, and took 11 in the first Test against Pakistan at Lord’s. There were plenty of reasons to doubt Woakes seeing England home, but his mettle was never one of them. This time, England’s nice guy finished first.

***

Because the last word couldn’t go to him on the day, it should go to Jos Buttler here, and while it was Woakes who was Player of the Match, really this was Buttler’s games. His failings and fortunes mirrored England throughout; sloppy in the first innings, struggling with the bat, before finally, incredibly, bouncing back.

After his 75, he admitted that the previous night, with the drops adding up and the runs not compensating, he’d feared for his Test career. His sister revealed on Twitter that that same evening he’d been told his father was in hospital. In a bio-bubble at his adopted home ground, he must nevertheless have felt a galaxy from everything that mattered. He would have been forgiven for looking down at his bat handle, reading the immortal two-syllable missive, and following the instructions to the letter.

Instead, he summoned the best innings of his Test career, with his time in England whites on the line, to not just give his side an unforgettable win, but to remind it’s fans that in Buttler, they have a gem. Test cricket hasn’t yet seen the best of Jos Buttler. And who knows, maybe it never will.

But he’ll always have Manchester. And so will we.