England spread their net resourcefully wide at Old Trafford as Saqlain Mushtaq reported for a consultation shift with the home spin attack.
Saqlain undertook two tutorials on the edge of the square, first with Adil Rashid and then more briefly Moeen Ali, replete with his own video footage for a follow-up debrief.
England can only hope it works to their significant advantage, against the off-spinner's native Pakistan, when they choose which of Rashid or Moeen - or possibly both - is deployed for the second Investec Test on Friday.
It is then they must try to level the four-match series, after Pakistan's brilliant leg-spinner Yasir Shah bowled the tourists into a 1-0 lead at Lord's.
In the meantime, Saqlain's expertise will not be confined to England's own spinners.
All-rounder Ben Stokes, back after injury having had to watch from afar as England failed to deal with Yasir first time round, also intends to tap into Saqlain's inside-track.
"You've got to use the knowledge of the people you're lucky enough to have come in and work with you," said the hard-hitting left-hander.
"From the batsmen, the questions he'll probably get asked are: 'Who are the best players you bowled at, and how did they go about it?'
"It would be silly if the batsmen didn't try to get anything out of him, pick his brains and ask how the guys who were successful against him played."
Whatever the advice from Saqlain, Stokes will be disinclined to temper his attacking instincts.
"That's my mentality, walking out and batting in the first place . to try to be on the front foot and aggressive," he said.
"But Old Trafford is known to spin, and obviously that's going to favour [Yasir].
"So we might have to change - there might be some sort of options where you have to think 'I can do this but no, I can't do that', if it's spinning and bouncing.
"It will just be working out a gameplan in terms of how to score, but not giving your wicket away."
Unsurprisingly, perhaps, there are no words of reassurance from the Pakistan camp.
Their fielding coach Steve Rixon was not surprised by England's struggles against Yasir at Lord's.
"I think most countries around the world play 'wristies' quite poorly," he said.
"To see someone master it and play them well is a treat to see, but I haven't seen a lot that do it yet."
Stokes, meanwhile, is hoping his left-handedness might conceivably help.
"It can do," he said. "Sometimes, it is quite tough - because there's a lot of bowlers' footmarks out in the rough.
"Some balls can turn sideways, and others can go straight on.
"But I guess with the ball turning into you it is a little bit easier.
"We'll just have to deal with whatever comes."
Source: PA
