'I assumed he was signalling to someone behind me'

It's fair to say that Marcus Trescothick was taken aback when Michael Vaughan waved at him from mid-off, and told him to get loosened up this afternoon. "I can't remember the last time I bowled in a Test," he said. "I looked around because I assumed he was signalling to someone behind me."

Old Trafford 2001 was, in fact, the occasion of Trescothick's last spell, as Pakistan pushed along to 403 in the first innings of a match that they eventually won in dramatic fashion after tea on the final day. Back then, his three overs were dispatched for 14 runs, and that seemed to be that. But 30 Tests and two-and-a-half years later, his rusty arm was coaxed back into action.

There was a logic to Vaughan's straw-clutching decision. The last time Trescothick bowled in the subcontinent was at Karachi in December 2000, the last Test of a series that England memorably stole in the twilight. Trescothick even came on as first-change in the first innings, and he picked up the wicket of the opener Imran Nazir.

And he should have had a second scalp, but was somehow denied the huge wicket of Inzamam-ul-Haq, trapped plumb in front by a floating yorker. Today, however, the magic - and the radar - deserted him, as an attempted slower ball lobbed past Chris Read for the biggest wide of the series.

As a long and arduous tour draws to a close, magic has been in short supply across the board. "That was our toughest day so far," admitted Trescothick afterwards. "We fought hard, but the pitch is pretty flat and there's not a lot in it for the bowlers. We will have to scrap hard tomorrow."

Throughout this Test, Trescothick has been the man that the action can't stay away from. Quite apart from his bowling spell today, there was his batting on the first morning, including his pivotal dismissal on the stroke of lunch. And this afternoon, four catches came his way as well. Unfortunately, half of them went away just as quickly.

"These things happen," he shrugged. "In this heat it is sometimes hard to keep the concentration going, and it is a lot hotter here than in Kandy. I wasn't too disappointed about the one off the spinner [Giles] - that just hit me. But the one off Freddie was the sort of regulation chance that I like to take.

"Tomorrow's a big day," he added. "The pitch looks like it'll break up at any minute, but so far it's held firm. We'll have to see how we go in the morning, and if we get a few wickets then how knows what can happen?"