Where would England be without Monty Panesar? In the 16 months since the Sikh arrived in the side, he has established himself as the anchor of this attack. Other bowlers have gone from boom to bust, from sponsor’s podium to operating table. Panesar just keeps stacking up the wickets, his aim as steady as his manner as excitable.

Monday’s six-for made Panesar the first England spinner to claim 10 in a match since Phil Tufnell, in 1997. And these scalps did not come easily. No batsman in the world could have bettered Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s impression of a brick wall.

Yet Panesar was not to be denied. His action remained smooth and grooved, when it would have been so easy to tense up under the burden of expectation. Only his ferocious appealing hinted at the turmoil beneath the turban.

“You don’t want to put pressure on yourself by thinking you can take a wicket every ball,” Panesar mused later, after claiming the first Man-of-the-Match award of his Test career.

“You just have to try to bowl maidens. There is so much in the pitch that you don’t need too much variation. If you can keep the pace and energy on the ball, it will zip out of the rough. Sometimes it kicks up, maybe even as high as the batsman’s head.”

This last remark was prompted by the comical moment when Panesar made one leap at Chanderpaul’s helmet and umpire Aleem Dar signalled that he had bowled his first bouncer of the over. On Monday’s form, it is stretching things to suggest that Panesar is a ‘slow bowler’ at all. His speed came up at an average of 58mph.

When you see Panesar performing like this, it seems all the more remarkable that Duncan Fletcher should have discounted him during England’s planning for the Ashes series. Panesar was the best bowler last summer just as he has been the best this season.

It was a costly lapse, but he more than made up for it with his spectacular caught-and-bowled off a full-blooded Darren Sammy straight-drive. The look on Panesar’s face, as he stared wide-eyed at the ball in his right hand, was priceless: a true champagne moment.

“That one probably surprised the captain,” Panesar said. Maybe it did, but everything else about his steely-nerved performance was delightfully predictable.