For all the emphasis on the peak pace bowlers can reach, even more important is their capacity to maintain speed. This was among the reasons that led England to turn away from Ollie Robinson – frustrated by his tendency to lose pace over the course of a day, sometimes rendering him unfit to bowl altogether, and in back-to-back Tests.

While those with more unusual gifts are unleashed in short bursts, Potts’s role in the England bowling attack is akin to being the dependable designated driver. Yet he considers more speed essential to making his long, accurate spells more threatening, particularly abroad. In Pakistan, Potts is likely to play his first away Test, after eight at home.

“It’s something that I’ve looked at: being not only useful in England, but also useful elsewhere,” he said. “There’s been like a change, trying to increase my ball speed, try to be a bit more effective elsewhere. I think I’m taking positive steps towards trying to make myself useful everywhere.

“You need a little bit extra in other places. But when it comes to it, it’s all about control. How much can you increase it with control? I think one of my key assets is control, but it’s about kind of exploring the boundaries in which I can keep control and try to find my peak speed.”

In India at the start of the year, Potts took 20 wickets at 17 apiece for England Lions.

Two years ago, when he toured Pakistan but was not picked in the final XI, Potts does not believe that he would have been as well-equipped to succeed.

“No, probably not,” he reflected. “I probably didn’t have the extra ball speed. It’s something I’ve been working on over the last kind of six or seven months, trying to increase that for suitability for different conditions. I probably wasn’t ready for that, and my game probably wasn’t at that level just yet.”

Woakes batted at No7 when England won the ODI World Cup in 2019, and performed the role again during the summer Test series against Sri Lanka. While Potts is not as capable with the bat, he has placed more emphasis upon his batting this year, and hit 149 not out for Durham in a County Championship game.

“I’m definitely trying to push my batting,” he explained. “It’s a key role in the side, to be a bowling all-rounder, and that’s something that I looked at at the start of the year. There has been a lot of work going into my batting, a lot more than there has been [before].”