Manchester (England), July 30: Anyone meeting Monty Panesar off the field would probably think they had been introduced to a polite, almost shy, young man.

And while all that is true, if you give him a cricket ball he becomes a man transformed, an animated artist of a spin bowler England have so rarely enjoyed.

The Northamptonshire left-armer was an entrancing figure while taking a Test-best 5/72 as England completed a crushing innings and 120 run victory in the second Test against Pakistan with more than two days to spare to go 1-0 up in the four-match series here at Old Trafford.

Watching Panesar bowl with the kind of genuine turn not seen from an England left-arm spinner since the days of Phil Edmonds in the late 1970s and 1980s, it was hard to believe that he had been at risk of missing this match. But after he had "failed" to bowl Pakistan out on the final day of the drawn first Test at Lord’s, England added uncapped off-spinner Jamie Dalrymple to their squad.

Dalrymple is very much a cricketer of the type England coach Duncan Fletcher is often heard praising, a "two out of three" man, whose batting and fielding are reckoned to be better than those of Panesar’s.

Admittedly Panesar did not help his cause early in his international career with some wretchedly inept misfields. Meanwhile, England have steadfastly kept him at No. 11 where he has shown some ability in seeing a couple of team-mates to centuries and earlier this season, sweeping Sri Lanka star Muttiah Muralitharan for six at Trent Bridge.

Fast bowler Stephen Harmison may have taken the man-of-the-match award at Old Trafford for his overall return of 11/76 but, on the final day, it was Panesar who removed Pakistan’s three leading batsmen — Mohammad Yousuf, captain Inzamam-ul Haq and Younis Khan — all renowned as fine players of spin.