Jamie Smith made his first notable error as England’s wicketkeeper when Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva walked down the pitch and Shoaib Bashir played a fairly full off-break. Smith ‘got up’ too early and did not stay down long enough.

In this context, it is important to note that Smith is, by all appearances, the greatest wicketkeeper England has ever had. The greatness of English cricketers was not measured in a bygone era when stumpers bore it all and then dropped dead at night after numbing their broken fingers. But judging by photographs, Smith has raised the bar.

Official wicketkeepers, that is. When England’s regular wicketkeeper Les Ames was injured during the 1934 Ashes Test at the Oval, he was replaced by his very tall Kent teammate Frank Woolley, who, at 47, found bending problematic. He conceded 37 byes in one innings, but when England lost by 562 runs to Bradman-led Australia, his role as wicketkeeper had no bearing on the result.

Wicketkeepers are either begotten or made. The most beautiful are the begotten, like Alan Knott, the Taylors (Bob and Sarah), Jack Russell, Jamie Foster and Ben Foakes. They are as flexible as salmon and find it easier to stay down while sticking to the spinners. But there is nothing wrong with being ‘made’ as long as these keepers take every opportunity that comes their way.

Apart from his first mistake, Smith has delivered on the three most important points in his fourth Test with aplomb. At Lord’s in his 70 and at Edgbaston in his 95, he batted as his predecessor Foakes never did: cautiously at first before pushing the boundaries in the later stages and batting like no other, like Joe Root on fire, perhaps a stronger version and certainly better equipped for T20 batting. The sky seems to be the only limit for Smith’s batting, provided wicketkeeping does not hamper him; he is already mature enough to be number six in this Old Trafford Test.

As a keeper, Smith ticked the other two boxes with his ability against pace and spin. Again, his size comes into play. Foakes likes to catch the ball at knee height. Smith, who is taller, prefers a higher spot, closer to the hip: less bending required, more comfortable, more sustainable. It is notable that Smith was wicket-keeper for Surrey when Foakes was sidelined with a back problem.

The domino effect is that when Smith stands back for England, he stands a little closer to the stumps than Foakes. England’s slip catchers therefore also stand a few feet closer, which can work both ways, for better or worse. The outside-off ball is more likely to land at Root, Zak Crawley (if he’s fit) and Harry Brook, but because they’re closer, they’re more likely to drop it; or the domino effect is literal, like when Crawley broke a finger dropping a cracker at second slip in the Edgbaston Test.

Since Surrey have stopped selecting a specialist spinner in recent seasons, Smith’s biggest challenge has been Shoaib Bashir, particularly at Trent Bridge in the West Indies’ second innings when the offspinner moved his right-handed line outside off to the offstump. Bashir was easier to hit and hold when he bowled straight and angled the ball to the leg side – except when he fired so far to the leg side on the first night here, allowing Smith four byes.

England’s two rookies, Smith and Bashir, must form a strong axis if England are to win the next Ashes: Bashir, 20, has the next 18 months to grow into a lion cub, if not a full-fledged Nathan Lyon, and will need all the help he can get on Australia’s unfriendly pitch if he is to bowl many economical overs and allow the quicks to rotate. The signs are already promising, and they will have long days in Pakistan in October to get to know each other. For example, the doyen of England wicketkeepers, Alan Knott, simply stared at the spot on the pitch when he wanted Derek Underwood to bowl shorter.

In demeanor, not technique, Smith resembles Foakes and Jos Buttler, modest and unassuming. He is not a cajoling, barking, arm-waving keeper who is constantly in the batsman’s ear, like Jonny Bairstow, Matt Prior or Jack Russell. But perhaps Smith doesn’t need to chatter. These England players of the Ben Stokes era are, unlike some of their predecessors, entirely self-motivated.