'Shoaib Akhtar and Yousuf had batted so well I thought if Shoaib can bat that long then I should too' © AFP Enlarge

His bumbled stumping of Ian Bell eventually proved as crucial as it was straightforward and it wasn't the only chance he scuffed; 19 byes had also crept past him in the first two Tests. Modern-day wicketkeeper-batsman ethos also decreed that his batting form was in crisis. Since his maiden century in Mohali earlier this year, a punchy rearguard, he had gone 11 innings without a fifty although his scores in two Tests - 33, 28, 41, 9 - were by no means poor. Further, with Moin Khan, one of the two men he displaced in the national team, scoring a typically belligerent domestic double century this week, Akmal was, for the first time in a year, under some pressure.

A flawless display behind the stumps in England's first innings, supplemented by two outstanding catches, and a typically spiky second Test century and his highest Test score, marks a return to form: "I could not play a long knock in the last few Tests. I needed to score big in this innings and I am happy that I have done it and helped my team."

In an unbeaten partnership for the sixth wicket, with Mohammad Yousuf, of 199 runs, Akmal all but sealed the series for Pakistan today. "We needed to have a long partnership first. Shoaib Akhtar and Yousuf had batted so well I thought if Shoaib can bat that long then I should too. I played for the team."

When England took the new ball immediately after lunch, Akmal launched a counterattack, first reaching out and driving Hoggard through the covers for four before placing it squarer for another in the first over of the new ball. Harmison was driven with minimal movement between mid-off and cover a couple of overs later, on one knee, he square drove Hoggard with such timing it somehow beat the sweeper on the cover boundary. A streaky four off Flintoff later and, with Yousuf, Akmal had rendered the new ball redundant.

He then repelled a hostile spell of short-pitched bowling before eventually bringing his century up, fittingly, with a cover drive. Uppishly struck it may have been but, as with most of his other boundaries, it was placed unerringly through a gap. It wasn't a world away from his 109 at Mohali, although Akmal acknowledged the difference in circumstance. "Mohali was a different situation. We had to save the match then. Here we had to score runs and make a big partnership and also face the new ball. We could have lost wickets in that spell but we managed to score some runs off it."

In Mohali, he had played out eight balls on 99 and his trawl through the nineties today was also traumatic: on 95 he was dropped at wide slip by Trescothick ("I thanked God when I was dropped!"). Eventually, as he helped Pakistan to a mammoth 446-5, a lead already of 158 with two days left, his innings, he admitted, has made the series safe for Pakistan.

And was he ever worried about Moin Khan knocking once again on the national team's doors? "I didn't really think about that. He is a great wicketkeeper and I don't want to compare myself to him at all. I got full support from the coach and captain and senior players and from Yousuf and have done what was needed for the team. I just want to improve my game every day. I don't think about who is better, who is number one. I just concentrate on my own performance." On the basis of what he accomplished here, that is perhaps as it should be.