Seems new dawns last longer in the Arctic winter than they do in English cricket. At Lord’s their latest broke at around 3.30pm, when Jos Buttler walked out to join Ben Stokes in the middle, then set again 40 minutes later when Stokes was dismissed leg-before and Buttler was caught at second slip. By 4.30pm, England were all out for 184. They had lost six wickets for 35 runs in 63 balls. Sudden and short as it all was, the mayhem lasted long enough to make one thing clear – whatever was wrong with the team’s batting in the winter, it hasn’t been fixed in the spring.

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It was the seventh time England had been dismissed for under 250 in the 14 innings they have played since they were last at Lord’s, when they beat the West Indies here in September. So much for home comforts. The green, green grass here wasn’t any easier or more forgiving than the hard surfaces of Brisbane and Perth, or any of the other spots where they were routed last winter.

The conditions were tricky, the ground damp, the air thick and muggy, closed over with grey cloud, and Pakistan’s attack, four men with the knack of moving the ball this way and that, was well suited to it.

Alastair Cook, at least, played well for his 70, all clanking straight-drives and neat clips and flicks off his legs. He looked like a batsman who had his game in order. His top-order team-mates, though, all fell to rash attacking strokes and sloppy prods, bad shots to good balls. Joe Root was caught flashing at a wide ball, Mark Stoneman’s defence was picked apart by a straight one, Dawid Malan was caught off the edge of a dangling bat and Jonny Bairstow bowled by a fine delivery that beat him on the outside. So in came Stokes. He asserted himself by collaring some clumpy drives, brute-force thwacks through cover and down the ground.

The meaty crack of Stokes’s bat is so unmistakable that you would likely pick the shots as his even with your eyes shut. It’s crash-bang-wallop batting. There were five fours in his first 24 runs, and then a hearty heave-ho six off Pakistan’s young spinner Shadab Khan. Cook was out in the over after, beaten, brilliantly, by Mohammad Amir. The shock and disappointment the English fans felt at his dismissal was tempered by the fact that it bought Buttler to the crease for the first time in Test cricket since England were thrashed by India at Chennai in December 2016.

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When Stokes came back into the one-day squad in February, Buttler said there was a “back-to-school feel” about the squad. And you could feel that here, too. There was a flush of childish excitement when they came together, an expectant clamour in the stands. The promise of Buttler and Stokes batting together is enough to justify even Lord’s asking prices. They must be as potent and preternaturally talented a pair as England have ever fielded together at No 6 and No 7.

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It was only a fortnight ago that Buttler and Stokes were batting at the Wankhede Stadium, for the Rajasthan Royals against the Mumbai Indians. The two of them have come straight from the IPL to Test cricket. Between them they have hardly had a sight of a red ball in nine months. Stokes has played two first-class games since September, England’s two Tests in New Zealand, and Buttler hasn’t played any at all. He has spent the winter playing white ball cricket for England and an assortment of T20 sides, Rajasthan, the Sydney Thunder, the Comilla Victorians. It showed.

Buttler threw his bat hard at his very first ball, chopped it just past his stumps and scurried a quick single. He followed that with a paddle sweep off Khan, and then a pair of breathtaking shots for four, a rubber-wristed flick to mid-wicket and a vicious jab down the ground. It was brilliant while it lasted, which wasn’t long. In the second over after tea Stokes was startled to find himself out leg-before on review. Moments later Buttler was surprised to find he was caught. It’s likely been a long time since anyone set him a second slip. Asad Shafiq clung on to a shot that might have taken his head clean off if he had misjudged it.

For all the talk about how England’s new national selector, Ed Smith, was going to use statistical analysis to inform his decisions, Buttler seems more like a gut pick. As if, just like every other English cricket lover, Smith believes that Buttler is so gifted that he can’t but succeed in Test cricket. Buttler says the last time he was in the Test team he made the mistake of thinking he had to play differently. He says Smith and Root have been encouraging him to treat Test and T20 cricket in the very same way. “Whatever colour the ball is,” he says, “I’ve just got to go and play …” Which sounds fine. In theory.