Chris Woakes might never have been away. His fourth ball swung late, narrowly missing the edge as Rohit Sharma was lured into the drive. His sixth was a brute, which Sharma fended to Jonny Bairstow.
Siren call followed by snorter, and not a hint of rust. That’s how to reintroduce yourself to Test cricket.
It had been 373 days since Woakes last enjoyed the thrill of a Test wicket: Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan at Southampton’s Ageas Bowl. As the weeks stretched into months, then totalled a year, he might reasonably have wondered if the knack had deserted him.