Facing spin early on, Pope’s tendency has been to sweep with impunity; against the seaming ball, his inclination has been to drive forcefully. Earlier this year, head coach Brendon McCullum observed, “He’s trying to be as calm as he can when he goes out there and there’s a period when he needs to grab information from the wicket and get the rhythm of how the game is going.”

Over the past two years, Pope’s early vulnerability has largely been concealed, both by his team-mates and himself. The excellence of Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett as an opening partnership means that, when Pope has failed, it has tended to reduce England to 80 for two, rather than 20 for two.

Pope has also developed the best way to make up for his early vulnerability: turning his starts into match-shaping contributions. At number three, Pope has scored 12 half-centuries, converting five into centuries.

The list includes one of England’s greatest innings in India – an audacious, sweep-laden 196 in Hyderabad this year. It was an innings that held out the promise of heralding Pope’s elevation to one of the world’s leading Test batsmen. Instead, he mustered just 118 runs in the last eight innings of the series.

The rut extended Pope’s malaise against the best teams in the world. In 18 Tests against Australia and India combined, Pope has reached 50 just twice, and averages 22.05. In 20 out of 35 innings against Australia and India, Pope has been dismissed before reaching his 25th ball.