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.