Providing Robinson’s bounce is Brydon Carse, a tall bowler who hits the pitch hard and touched 90mph in the one-day series against Australia. He can be expensive and is not as skilful as Robinson, but he could make a very effective battering ram. He has played like a cricketer with a point to prove since his call-up after serving a three-month gambling ban. That hunger is what Robinson needs to rediscover.

Gus Atkinson will play his first Test overseas and is close to Robinson in skill terms, but with extra pace. He bowled sharply in practice and looks clear of the thigh injury he picked up in the third Test against Sri Lanka, a result of being overworked more than anything else. If he and Carse click they could be a relentless pairing, hitting the seam at pace, which England so desperately want to cultivate ahead of the Ashes.

England’s pace-bowling project, details of which were revealed by Telegraph Sport last week, is a detailed piece of work that backs up Rob Key’s insistence that speed is key.

It shows that it takes 92 balls for seamers operating at 81-83mph to take wickets on Pakistan pitches. It drops to 54.6 for those at 85-87mph, where Atkinson and Carse bowl the majority of their balls. It is seam, not swing, that is important at Test level on flat pitches and England’s attack does have those attributes: all are skilled in the wobble-seam ball which bowling coach Anderson used to such effect two years ago. 

‘A great opportunity for the group we have out here’

Ben Stokes’s captaincy was crucial to England taking 20 wickets on each of the three flat Pakistan pitches two years ago, his bold thinking accelerating matches. Stokes is masterful at reading when to push and when to hold back, something his stand-in Ollie Pope struggled with in the Sri Lanka series. England will learn a lot about their young seamers but also Pope, and whether he is a fast learner after making mistakes in a poor third Test for England against Sri Lanka at the Oval.

“It is a great opportunity for the bowling group we have out here. You look at Woakesy leading the attack, it is obviously quite public around his away record, but he is determined to improve on that,” said Stokes. “Leading the attack has given him that confidence. We have seen Brydon Carse come into the white-ball team and he did incredibly well. Gus Atkinson we don’t need to speak about too much because he had a stellar summer.

“So I think it is really exciting for the lads to come out here and be exposed to these conditions for the first time. It will show them how hard Test cricket can be. It is tough anyway but coming to the subcontinent and Pakistan at the moment when it is high 30s and low 40C, it takes character, and we have a lot of characters in our dressing room who will be willing to stand up to the challenge of playing Test cricket out here.”

Shan Masood, the Pakistan captain, has called for groundsmen to produce pitches that help his seamers and there is a tinge of green to the Multan surface. But it will not last long once the hessian cover is peeled back and it bakes under the sun on day one for a couple of hours. The outfield is lush so reverse swing will be hard to manufacture. It is likely to turn from day one, regardless of what Masood says.

Jack Leach is back for England, his first Test since January, and has a point to prove after losing his status as No1 spinner to Shoaib Bashir. The two Somerset men play together for the first time for England, and give England a rounded attack.

Multan is not an easy place for tourists. The security is high, everyone is hotel-bound unless traveling with the Punjab Elite Force armed guard. It promises to be a tough, strength-sapping couple of weeks for England, but they will learn a lot about where their bowling stands a year out from going to Australia.