‘The Mop’ is Josh Tongue’s nickname: recognition of his capacity to clean up the tail. Ben Stokes likes to joke about Tongue’s penchant for “rabbit pie”, as he showed by celebrating at Headingley with an impression of the bowler scoffing.

English pitches have long been known for challenging batters, especially overseas players. With seam movement and overcast skies often favouring bowlers, scoring big runs in England has never been easy.