With that context, England had to make their life easier in any way possible, and that includes having your fast-bowling guru on the ground. While they stuck at it, England’s inexperience with the ball did tell. None of the three seamers selected have played in Pakistan before, with Woakes playing his first Test in Asia since 2016, Gus Atkinson playing away from home for the first time, and Carse making his debut. Neither of the two quicks on the bench, Matthew Potts and Olly Stone, have toured Pakistan before, either.

There has been a total turnover of the pace attack that brought England so much success in 2022, when they won 3-0 in Pakistan. Anderson has retired, Ollie Robinson has been dropped (he uploaded a video of himself watching the action from an airport lounge), while Mark Wood and Stokes are both injured.

Anderson’s only two Tests in Pakistan came on that 2022 tour, when he took eight wickets at an average of 18.5 and, crucially, an economy of 2.2. But he was on the tour there in 2005, watching the likes of Shoaib Akhtar up close, and has 92 Test wickets in Asia (as many as any visiting bowler, tied with Dale Steyn).

By all accounts, he has made an excellent start to life as a coach. Insiders praise the immediate impact he had on the raw 20-year-old Josh Hull during the series against Sri Lanka, educating him on the wobble seam, a key part of the Test seamer’s armoury now. Wood credited him for a destructive spell against West Indies at Edgbaston.

There is no guarantee that Anderson’s knowledge of bowling in these conditions, which is as rich as any Englishman’s, would have improved the current crop of bowlers’ output had he been present at their three training days. McCullum was quick to point out that Anderson does have a WhatsApp group with the bowlers on the tour, which he used to pass on golden nuggets, but that is clearly no substitute for being on the ground. Surely, if there was one time he could add value in this series, it was before a single ball was bowled.

Anderson is currently in a post-career limbo. He has not officially retired from first-class cricket, and is doing a bit of coaching alongside some media work while he works out what the second chapter of his life looks like. He is within his rights to let his hair down and play some golf, especially at a bucket-list event like the Dunhill (Kevin Pietersen, who also played, describes it as “the best week of the year”, with the invitation “the only email that gets urgent attention and a response”). Equally, England’s relaxed approach is part of the reason why players and coaches are so keen to be involved.

But surely, given the challenge facing England on this tour, it had to be one or the other for Anderson, rather than arriving in Pakistan too late for his most important bit of work.