Pakistan v England: Spin it to win it as hosts and their former Whiston Parish Church bowlers take giant leap - Chris Waters

Or would the moon - as Armstrong’s mother, Viola, feared - swallow him up as he walked the strange world?

“I was worried that the moon might be too soft and that he would sink too deeply, but I’m so thankful they got there safely,” she said.

Similar uncertainty - albeit on a somewhat less momentous scale - attended what would happen when the cricketers of Pakistan and England set foot on the recycled pitch for the second Test in Multan.

Would the surface - the same as used for the first Test - break up dramatically and favour the bowlers?

Or would the wicket - around which there had been so much debate - prove happily well-balanced, providing good contest between bat and ball?

As England reached 239-6 in reply to Pakistan’s 366 at stumps on day two, the balance was certainly much better than it had been last week, when batsmen dominated to disproportionate extent, although increasingly sharp spin towards the day’s end - and the clatter of wickets it engendered - suggested that one of these sides will be swallowed up at some stage in the coming days.

The chances of that being England increased as, from a threatening 211-2 with around 45 minutes left, they lost 4-14 in 18 balls to slip to 225-6.

Joe Root was a little unlucky when dragging on a sweep; Ben Duckett - after a masterly 114 - slashed loosely to slip; Harry Brook went back and was bowled by a ball that turned in, and Ben Stokes inside-edged to short-leg.

The first three of those wickets went to off-spinner Sajid Khan, who had earlier brought one back through Ollie Pope’s gate before ending the day with 4-86.

Noman Ali - whose first name this hapless typist cannot get right first time without inserting an ‘r’ – was the one who dismissed Stokes, having had Zak Crawley caught behind driving when Pakistan reviewed in the only English wicket that fell before tea.

Given that the ball suddenly began to turn sharply on the day seven surface, if you factor in the five days of the previous Test, Pakistan’s decision to pick only one seamer in Aamer Jamal and up to seven spinners, full or part-time, could well pay off.

England’s seam-spin balance was a hedging-one’s-bets combination of three and three, one that appeared justified, though, when the wickets were spread equally as Pakistan added to their overnight 259-5 (England’s seamers taking 5-136, their spinners 5-223).

However, it is Pakistan now whose balance seems the more favourable, assuming that they can capitalise on a lead of 127. Those inclined to write England off, though, just about from any position under Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum, risk having their faces covered in yolk above blushing red cheeks.

It has been an interesting series so far and one impressively awash with Yorkshire connections, with Root and Brook in the ranks of England, and Shan Masood and Saud Shakeel in those of Pakistan.

The Pakistan coach is Jason Gillespie, who led Yorkshire to two County Championships, a runners-up position and a third-placed finish in those memorable years from 2012 to 2016 inclusive, along with promotion.

After Kamran Ghumal became the first Pakistani to score a hundred on Test debut against England on day one, having appeared last summer for Hoylandswaine in the Huddersfield League, further Broad Acres links emerged on day two.

As Carl Morton, of Whiston Parish Church Cricket Club, pointed out on the BBC website’s live feed of the game, both Pakistan opening bowlers, Jamal and Khan, previously represented that South Yorkshire club, a notable double.

It was not Jamal’s happiest day with the ball; his six overs cost 39 runs, and he struggled with his line, after he had injured his hip during an innings of 37 from the No 8 position, one ended by Brydon Carse, who took three wickets and Jack Leach four.

Khan, too, was a little expensive, going at four-and-a-half an over as Duckett, especially, turned on the style - sweeping more times than a house-proud person sweeps their front doorstep.

But Khan was there to take wickets and, amid some extravagant gestures and near piratical expressions, enhanced by a lavish moustache made for endless twirling, he bamboozled the batsmen as once he had done for Whiston.

Well supported by excitable fielders, he breathed life into the final stages as Pakistan took one small step towards victory and, they will hope, one giant leap towards levelling and possibly winning the series.