Bashir gets his day in the sun only to be put in the shade at Trent Bridge

A series that started just three weeks ago amid sweaters, stormclouds and a flood of wickets at Lord’s, is reaching boiling point at Trent Bridge. Or at least the people watching it are, the action on the opening day of the concluding Test having been much less fiery than the weather in which it was played.

The ground’s preparations for these conditions seemed a little lukewarm. Cooldown rooms were created for overheating supporters, though it was not clear how anyone would find out about them. A small pop-up shop entertainingly labelled “Thirst Slip” was set up under the Bridgford Road Stand, which offered “provisions to make you way cooler”.

It was a limited range, consisting in its entirety of baseball caps, battery-powered fans and cartons of water, an array that carried a fair whiff of afterthought. As a result Thirst Slip attracted few customers, making its reception the only thing about it, and indeed the day, that could be described as frosty. It also meant that the principal challenge facing the person staffing it was the pursuit of their own patch of shade, which for much of the day involved sitting on a cupboard.

Shade was at a premium throughout, which was an issue because so much of what is available at Trent Bridge is in spaces under various stands that double up as major thoroughfares, leading to bottlenecks particularly during the intervals as people entered them and opted not to depart. As the day progressed more and more people abandoned the action to luxuriate in cooler spots elsewhere, behaviour that is probably best described as shadebathing. After tea, with the sun moving west and the roof over the Bridgford Road Stand now offering some protection, it remained full while many of the unprotected seats on the opposite side of the ground sat empty.

And Shoaib Bashir finally got his day in the sun. He had played at Lord’s, if only a little – he faced 27 balls with the bat and bowled none – and as a result was left out of the second game at the Oval, where as it turned out a spinner might have come in handy. The forecast here left no room for doubt.

We will never know what about this day – and Bashir’s performance across it – may have changed had England reviewed a decision, in the 10th over after lunch, not to give Devon Conway out lbw. Bashir’s appeal was brief, and Jamie Smith behind the stumps thought the ball had been edged into the pads. It had not, and was bound for the stumps. Conway was on 71 at the time, New Zealand on 157, but the batter remained, and England’s optimism drained.

If Bashir has done a lot of drink-running of late, he somehow always seems to be enjoying it when he does. He has also developed a literal spring in his step, a hop at the start of his run-up, that makes it look much more Tiggerish bounce than weary drudge. This is fun to watch, which on days like this contrasts with what tends to comes next: a delivery of wildly unpredictable length but wearily reliable lack of menace, as Conway demonstrated by lifting him down the ground for six a couple of times.

In some quarters Bashir will never be forgiven for the fact that his ability was first identified by England’s leadership group thanks to a viral YouTube clip. He has been picked more than anything on potential, for the height of his ceiling – a gamble whose wisdom can only be definitively judged when he either fulfils it or retires without doing so, both of which still seem a long way off.

More than two years after his Test debut he remains extraordinary mainly because of his youth: at 22, New Zealand have 10 players in their squad who are older than him by a decade or more, including six of their top seven in this game. But there is more to him than that, and many of those watching this performance will also have been present when England last played here, against Zimbabwe last summer – a match Bashir ended with nine wickets and a player of the match award, neither of which seem on the cards this time.

He has had good days, but it is fair to say that this was not one of them. Which may be why, when minutes before the close Rachin Ravindra was dismissed the ball after Bashir had athletically turned what looked destined to be a Henry Nicholls four into a single, his teammates seemed so determined to congratulate him for it.

In the end spin did get rewarded, albeit the part-time offerings of Joe Root, who struck with just his seventh ball. What really made Bashir unusual here was that he would not have appreciated being put in the shade.