Ben Duckett is ideally suited to conditions in Pakistan and England's collapse against their spinners in Multan on the second evening only highlighted his value. On his return to the top of the order (having slipped down due to injury last week), Duckett scored 114 - his fourth Test hundred - on a recycled pitch. He outscored the other five members of England's top six combined, who managed just 100 between them.
Duckett was the second of four wickets to fall in an 18-ball period as the sun started to set behind the Zaheer Abbas Enclosure, slashing Sajid Khan to slip. This was the seventh day the same pitch had been used, and as the ball got older, it started to misbehave off the surface, with some significant turn and low bounce.
The collapse was a particular frustration to Duckett given his own strength against spin, and he threw his head back in frustration when dismissed. England were understandably wary about Pakistan's ploy to re-use the same surface for this Test but it played into Duckett's hands, as he swept and reverse-swept prodigiously through his innings.
"My theory is that the spinners' best delivery is where I want the ball [to pitch] to play a sweep shot," he explained. "It's also trying to get rid of the fielders around me, especially with a new ball. They want to have a short leg, a slip, a leg slip… then it's trying to get those fielders out and make it slightly easier where I can rotate and get singles."
Duckett scored nearly half of his runs from sweeps, whether reverse, paddle, slog or conventional, but believes he has become more adaptable in the last two years. "Last time I came to Pakistan, I potentially played too many sweeps and didn't really change it up, whereas now I'm trying to make the bowlers change their lengths and lines."
Yet it was only fitting that he reached three figures with a flat, hard sweep off Salman Agha for four, having spent 22 balls in the 90s on the way to the slowest of his four Test hundreds. He revealed last week that his failure to convert his half-centuries had started to play on his mind, but, despite the odd scare, he cast those issues aside. "It was more of a relief than anything."
Duckett said he had also been relieved upon learning that Pakistan had picked a single seamer, Aamer Jamal, given he is still recovering from the dislocation of his left thumb during the first Test. He faced only 13 balls from Jamal compared to 113 from the four spinners used, and only the offspinner Sajid - whose stock ball turns away from his outside edge - caused him any real issues.
His most anxious moment came on 83, when he missed a reverse-sweep off Sajid which in turn missed his leg stump by no more than millimetres. "It was a different challenge today, facing a good offspinner who eventually got me out in the end," Duckett said. "But it was nice to back my defence, and play with a straighter bat to him."
That thumb injury forced Duckett down to No. 4 in the first Test, but he was back at the top of the order this week and put on 73 with Zak Crawley in a typically breezy opening stand. It was their first partnership since July, after Crawley missed the Sri Lanka series with a broken finger, and a reminder of their contrasting strengths at 5ft7in and 6ft5in respectively.
It was the 13th time out of 36 that Crawley and Duckett have added at least 50 for the first wicket, and their partnership is world-leading in their two years opening together. "It's so good batting with 'Creeps'," Duckett said. "I've realised what it's like not being out there with him in the last few games. We complement each other well."
The importance of Duckett's contribution became apparent as this second day wore on, with Ollie Pope, Joe Root and Harry Brook dismissed by balls that either turned appreciably out of the footmarks or skidded through lower than anticipated. It is now up to England's lower order to drag them up towards parity on the third morning.
Duckett extended his stellar record in Pakistan, and specifically in Multan: he hit twin half-centuries in England's tight win here two years ago, then slapped 84 after his thumb injury last week. "I'm obviously facing a lot of spin, and a lot of spin turning into me, which I do enjoy," he said. "They're fast-scoring grounds out here, and generally very good to bat on."
Only Brook has scored more Test runs or hundreds for England in Pakistan than Duckett, and already it feels as though his output in the final innings of this match could dictate the result: by the time this surface is into its eighth or ninth day of use, Duckett's prowess against spin could prove invaluable.