Any drug addict will tell you that a high is a brief rush. What follows is a kick in the guts, a downer, a reality check.

All humans are addicts, even without drugs. That’s how our brains work, microscopic neurotransmitters feeding our worldly addictions.

Few nashas bring the acidic highs and cold turkey lows of Pakistan cricket. How silly of us to forget that what begins at Lord’s ends with Old Trafford?

Joy to despair, despair to joy, the extreme emotional biorhythm of Pakistan cricket.

If you were to create a highlights package of Pakistan cricket’s weaknesses, you’d do well to better what was displayed at Old Trafford.

Yet despite the kick in the guts, Pakistan fans in the crowd cheered every run and every lucky escape. They didn’t do this because they have low expectations — quite the opposite.

They loved every meaningless single and edged boundary simply because their country was playing international cricket, something that was in considerable doubt after 2010.

Let’s remind ourselves of that simple truth before our mood sinks below sanity.

You never know what you get next, was the gist of Misbah-ul-Haq’s post match analysis — and if he doesn’t know what we’ll get next then who does?

Suffice to say that Pakistan moved from serenity to shambles in the space of a few days. The Old Trafford Test came too soon for the players, who were still wallowing in the afterglow of being heroes at Lord’s.

The toss hurt but so did the lack of spirit in Pakistan’s camp.

England, as expected, rebounded strongly. And, as expected, the fight back was led by Alastair Cook and Joe Root, their most capable batsmen, and James Anderson, their metronomic swing bowler.

They were aided by a pitch that offered little help to Pakistan’s leg-spinner, effectively relegating him to a stock bowler who was picked off at will.

Yasir Shah will bounce back in friendlier conditions, but this was a humbling experience for a Swabi man who wants to be the world’s best bowler.

The bowling problem, however, did not begin or end with Yasir.

Pakistan’s pace attack persevered with bad habits introduced at Lord’s, in particular, of ill discipline in line. Collectively, they failed to exert consistent pressure on England’s batsmen, who played exceptionally.

England’s batsmen employed the leave like a weapon and punished the all-too-regular loose deliveries. When the bowling is so humdrum three left-armers might as well be one since the challenge is so monotone.

If Pakistan’s batsmen need to understand how to bat in England, they should look no further than Messrs Cook and Root. Unfortunately, Pakistan’s batsmen didn’t manage to look even that far.

Nor did they seem to study their own mistakes. In particular, they were troubled by the bounce off a good length, indeed any length.

The pitches of Asia keep the ball lower, Here it reared and popped a little, nothing spectacular in the face of Perth, Sabina Park, or the Centurion, but the little it did was enough to destabilise Pakistan’s best.

Mohammad Hafeez has ridden his luck as opener for over a decade. Footwork, the key essential in an opening batsman in testing conditions, is missing in him.

Shan Masood finds a length ball outside off stump hard to resist — and Anderson knows how and where to bowl it.

Azhar Ali is falling over, playing across his front pad. Younis Khan is jumping around the crease, a man on hot coals swatting a fly.

That’s the top order, done for in bottom class disorder. None of this is terminal, of course, or unrectifiable, but it’s nothing to be proud of.

Fortunately, the series is now paused for ten days, time for Pakistan to regroup and clear their heads. They will think about a change at the top of the order.

Sami Aslam for Masood? Hafeez is possibly off to Loughborough to retest his bowling action, to retie the string in his bow that keeps his international career from being cut adrift.

They will think about a right-arm bowler, probably Imran Khan, for one of the left armers.

They will think about their lines, and how to better use the new ball. They will boost Yasir — nobody becomes a bad bowler in one game, especially a leg-spinner.

Above all, they will think about playing to their ability and putting up a proper fight — not losing heart with the toss.

This Pakistan side has shown its grit and quality in the UAE, where success is a consistent theme.

If Pakistan can replicate that same quality, grit and consistency away from Asia then they will genuinely be a Test team to reckon with.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2016