It was around 2.40pm on Friday, in what many expected to be the last of the 10 days of cricket this three-Test series has produced, that Edgbaston's raucous Hollies Stand burst into life.
For the first time, the game was not immediately bending England's way. Shan Masood and Babar Azam were deep in an engaging partnership, stretching Pakistan's last innings of the series to the longest of a dispiriting tour. And so, the collection of Fred Flintstones, construction workers, priests and punters in their civvies roused to amuse themselves.
That might have been the first time this series England fans have had to source their own entertainment. Tumbling wickets have scored most of this summer's action, with Pakistan wickets as regular as drumbeats in "Seven Nation Army".
Some 20 minutes later, Masood was dismissed on 95 via a spectacular catch from Dan Lawrence at gully. England's breakthrough - and just Gus Atkinson's second wicket of the series - saw normal service resume. Until a few hours later.
Enter, Razaullah, and the chaos he brought with him right through to the 7pm close. Single-handedly responsible for the most thrilling passage over these last few weeks. All at England's expense.
The debutant's attempts to blaze each and every bowler through the stands had everyone on the edge of their seats. Meanwhile, England were at the end of their tether as the satisfaction of an early three-day finish - and heck, a well-earned Friday night on Broad Street - was sent sailing over the horizon, again and again. Here, they were subjected to a different kind of Raz.
When Razaullah brought up his half-century, everyone in situ - most of them England fans - rose to their feet. And it really did seem that there were a higher proportion of the 18,215 sticking around for him rather than on previous evenings this week. Here was the only show in town.
And now, England will have to follow it. The silver-lining is their chase of 130 presents them with a moment to seize. Home batters have scrambled out of pockets of discomfort this series - 48 for 2 and 36 for 3 in their first innings of the first two Tests - but Saturday morning brings jeopardy. One which will fuel whatever future this team has, whether they get over the line or not.
At the dregs of an uncompetitive few weeks, England needed to be tested, and here it was. To finally graft in the field. They toiled for two sessions before being subject to an elongated third.
The ball got old, and requests were made to change it at various junctures as the pitch flattened out. The kind of things that happen in this format. A handy reminder early in England's latest relaunch that Test cricket is not usually as generous as wobble seam on helpful decks and opponents rolling over. On the best batting track, Pakistan found fight. And England, ultimately, took more blows.
"Disappointing, of course," was how interim head coach Marcus Trescothick described the final passage. "We were in a position where they were eight down, scores were level. We hoped to go through them pretty quickly.
"I don't think we bowled very well this morning. I thought we didn't hit the areas that we wanted to hit. You know, the consistency in line or length or the top of the stumps, whatever you see it as, we weren't in the areas that we needed to be. I think we probably expected we'll come out, get a couple of early wickets and put them under pressure."
It did feel like England assumed they'd simply bowl Pakistan out by bowling at them. Which is not a particularly arrogant thought given how the first two Tests, Pakistan's first innings here and the start to their second innings (when they were 0 for 2) panned out.
Once the new ball was dulled, England's quicks found themselves up against the wall. Jofra Archer and Josh Tongue were particularly expensive, initially when Masood and Azan Awais began driving freely on their way to Pakistan's series-leading stand of 125. They were parted by Dan Lawrence's second delivery - a smart take from Jordan Cox down the leg side off a nick that DRS had to confirm - but the offspinner was only used for five overs in total, three of them with the new ball. He was the one who eventually called time on Razaullah's parade.
That, ultimately, falls at Joe Root's door. Much like his stand-in job at The Oval against New Zealand earlier this summer, albeit with a raw bowling attack, there were moments the England captain looked shorn of ideas (and support) when trying to manufacture breakthroughs. At one point in the evening, Root left the field, though Trescothick avoided confirming the dressing room visit was in search of solutions.
"We tried many different things. You have variations of plans; as you see, you bowl short ball for periods of time, then you go length for periods of time, then you go a bit of spin for a period of time. I think you're always chopping and changing. You have various ideas."
To be fair to Root, he not only sifted through plenty of the playbook but was able to punch a few holes in the bouncer tactic card.
Stationing himself at a catching square leg, there were two men beyond him in the deep, along with a catching cover, midwicket a cordon of one slip and a gully, along with a fly slip and a very narrow deep fine.
The fly slip should have paid dividends in the 62nd over. Babar Azam's thick edge on 69 off Archer went into the hands of sub fielder Theo Wylie, whose attempt at a relay catch to himself was botched after stepping on the boundary sponge. The 20-year old had earlier missed an opportunity at gully to dismiss Masood on 40, a second life for the left-hander after Ben Duckett couldn't cling on to a tough chance on 13 last night. Four balls later, Babar gloved Tongue down the leg side to a tumbling Cox, before Archer had Saud Shakeel fending one to Gay at short midwicket.
It was within this lower-middle order collapse of 40 for 4 that England's bowlers were at their most effective. But those long half-volleys in the morning were soon bookended by a scatter-gun approach to Razaullah and Mohammad Abbas, who pocketed a first-class best of 42. That Abbas was able to throw caution to the wind and have a go himself, striking two sixes in his 51st Test innings after managing just three in his previous 50 speaks to the confidence he garnered against an attack jolted by his partner's gloriously cavalier approach.
"I think looking at the way he [Razaullah] was hitting it, when we did bowl on the stumps, he played it pretty well and that was the balls that he was getting hold of more than anything else," was Trescothick's assessment of a wayward pitch map.
"We were trying to keep it out of the swing, and try and keep it away from the plane of the swing because he played it well when it was going there. It was just above the stumps that we were hoping to try and get the edge as much as possible. Didn't happen today."
As it happens, Razaullah's comments in his end-of-play press conference suggest he was oblivious to the fact England were trying to starve his arc: "I was being selective with which balls to slog, but they all seemed within range."
Razaullah's malestrom deserves all the plaudits. England's part in it was a footnote in one eccentric allrounder's coming out party. But they will rest wearily ahead of an unexpected day four knowing that when Pakistan finally came at them, they wilted.