Last week Harry Brook admitted he wanted to roll up the Multan pitch he had just scored 317 on and take it everywhere he goes. Pakistan captain Shan Masood must have felt the same after his side broke an 11-match winless streak at home to hand out a 152-run hammering to England’s Bazballers in the second Test.

Both matches, of course, were played at the same ground and on the same pitch. There were, though, dramatically different outcomes as Pakistan stormed back from their innings defeat in an opening Test that had seen them concede 823 for seven to set up a fascinating series decider in Rawalpindi next week.

England should approach that winner-takes-all finale with confidence intact despite the grim denouement to this match that saw their chase of 297 rapidly spin out of control as they were routed for 144 on a turning pitch inside 104 minutes of mayhem on the fourth and final morning in Multan.

After all, this was a Test that was effectively decided by the toss on the first morning, after which Pakistan were given a 64 per cent chance of victory by the WinViz algorithm used by broadcasters.

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The pitch was always going to favour the team who batted first and Pakistan, who dropped their best batter in Babar Azam and their two best seamers in Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah as they packed their XI with spinners, reaped the rewards for gambling not only on winning the toss but also on selection.

From the moment the hosts scored 366 in the first innings, England were always playing catch up and as humbling as this defeat was, they will still be favourites to wrap up the series in the final Test that starts on Thursday.

That’s not to say Pakistan didn’t play well. They did, especially Noman Ali and Sajid Khan, who became only the second pair of spinners in history to take all 20 wickets in a single Test.

But they were given the perfect conditions in which to operate. England have been loath to criticise the state of a pitch that may yet receive a sanction from the International Cricket Council.

Coach Brendon McCullum even admitted afterwards he quite liked “the quirk” of Pakistan reusing the same surface for this Test, adding: “I don’t have a problem with it.”

However, as interesting as it made the contest, isn’t Test cricket meant to be a fair battle between bat and ball? In the first Test, conditions were way too skewed in favour of the batters. It made for dull cricket, even if England managed to pull off a fine win.

This week the pitch was almost impossible to bat on normally once it exploded into life after tea on day two. It made for another unequal contest, so unequal in fact Stokes admitted afterwards that the best defensive shot to play on it was the sweep – a highly effective way of negating spin but one that comes with considerable risk on a surface where the bounce is also variable.

It’s why England could not be blamed for going out all guns blazing on a fourth morning that resumed with them on 36 for two, still 261 from pulling off what would have been their equal third highest overseas Test run chase.

Stokes used the sweep to good effect as he reached 37. But it was his slapstick dismissal, stumped charging Noman and accidentally sending his bat high into the air somewhere behind square, that summed up England’s struggles.

His was the seventh wicket to fall, still with 172 runs needed to win. It was the moment the game was well and truly up for an England team who never looked leaving like Noman’s land alive.

The veteran 38-year-old left-arm spinner, who was playing in just his 16^th Test, bowled with accuracy and precision to torment the tourists on the final morning, taking a career-best haul of eight for 46 and 11 wickets in total across the match.

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Yet the fact that this journeyman had so much joy tells you all you need to know about a surface that really should be sanctioned by the ICC.

England could have made life easier for themselves. They were 211 for two in the 42^nd over of their first innings and were bundled out for under 300 after a collapse of eight for 80.

It was sparked by the initial loss of four for 14 when the pitch dramatically changed after tea on day two. But could they have done more to avoid that total implosion?

They also would have had more of a chance if they had held their catches, especially the two that reprieved Salman Agha on four and six in Pakistan’s second innings. His knock of 63 was the final nail in England’s coffin.

Jack Leach and Shoaib Bashir were also completely outbowled by Pakistan’s spinners. Bashir’s on-the-job training may well be a commendable act of faith by England but they would have been better served picking a spinner in their squad with experience to bowl alongside Leach. Liam Dawson perhaps.

These are all points that can be argued. But the truth is defeat was inevitable once the coin fell in Shan’s favour on the first morning.

It may have made for an entertaining game but are contests largely decided by random luck really good for Test cricket?