Naqvi and Azhar Mahmood went into cricket's record books when each made centuries in the same innings, the first time two newcomers to a side have achieved the feat in a Test.

Both were on the A tour of England this summer, an experience which led Naqvi to observe: ``We have none of your cricketing structure - the indoor schools, the coaching, the back-up - yet we seem able to produce quality cricketers almost at will.

``When I was in England I saw 18 and 19-year-old batsmen being taught the basics of their craft, almost how to pick a bat up. That struck me as extraordinary. We have learnt the rudiments at a very tender age. It just seems to come naturally.''

Naqvi, 20, had not played at first-class level until the first game of the tour in July. Four months on and he is already keeping such experienced rivals as Aamir Sohail out of the top of the batting order in the Test side. His rise is extraordinary and, Naqvi thinks, unlikely to be paralleled in England.

``I got the feeling that in your country flair is not something that is encouraged beyond a certain level in the game,'' he said.

Certainly Naqvi's storybook selection would not happen at home. His Karachi club sent him along to the national stadium with a letter of introduction and a curriculum vitae of his batting successes at grade two level.

Pakistan's coach, Haroon Rashid, was overseeing the players competing for places on the A tour and, after reading the notes, sent Naqvi into the nets. ``After watching me, he asked where I was from. He said I had a good technique and to keep it up.

``I went home at the end of the week and thought nothing more about it. Then I saw in a newspaper that I was in the party.'' Haroon had been so impressed he persuaded the selectors to take an extra player, Naqvi, on the tour.

Naqvi began playing as a 13-year-old at school. Where Azhar Mahmood, 22, was educated, in Islamabad, there were no such facilities. ``That is common,'' he said. ``My only experience of the game was as a lad, playing it in the street. It was bumpy and had pot-holes.''

At 16, he joined Islamabad Hawks and within a year was playing the first-class game for his home city. By 19, he was a Pakistani under-20 tourist and last year made his international debut in the Sahara Cup in Toronto.

Whereas Naqvi found English conditions difficult for an opening batsman accustomed to slow and low Pakistan pitches, Mahmood was in his element. His medium-pace seamers earned 40 wickets in eight matches and he averaged over 30 with the bat, scoring 92 in the representative game at Chelmsford.

With these two in the Test team, no room can be found for the likes of Hassan Raza, who has just compiled a double century in domestic competition, or for that matter Shahid Afredi, who has scored the fastest one-day international century.

The fourth day of the second Test between Pakistan and South Africa was washed out without a ball being bowled.