It is the tactical ploy that every fast bowler hates, and has prompted Ollie Robinson both to shake his head in frustration and roar in celebration in New Zealand's second innings at Lord's.
Jamie Smith called for a helmet and came up to the stumps on the second evening in a bid to stop Kane Williamson from advancing down the pitch, but Robinson waved Smith back when his second ball with the keeper up was cut away for four. When Ben Stokes overruled his bowler's request, Robinson was chuntering to himself as he walked back to his mark.
The stand-off did not last long: Williamson nudged a single into the leg side two balls later, and was pinned lbw by Josh Tongue before Robinson had another chance to bowl to him. But it provided a brief insight into Robinson's mindset, showing his obvious frustration at the thought he was bowling at a pace slow enough that Smith felt able to stand up to the stumps.
Most Test seamers would share a similar view. Alex Carey's immaculate glovework was a significant factor in Australia's dominance of the winter's Ashes series, but both Michael Neser and Scott Boland conceded that they took some time - and convincing - before accepting that the potential benefits of the ploy outweighed the dent to their egos.
Smith is a better keeper than he is often given credit for but is not at Carey's level, and admitted recently that he sees himself as a top-order batter. "The keeping has helped [open up] a lot of avenues," he told Wisden Cricket Monthly. "It's got me into sides, and it's great to have a second string to your bow. But every time I've got a bat in hand, I feel like that's where I belong."
He has only had to take a handful of balls when standing up in this Test match - and only off seamers, with Shoaib Bashir unused on a lively, up-and-down Lord's pitch - but Smith's mere presence has worked to England's advantage, taking the option of coming down the pitch to put bowlers off their lengths away from New Zealand's batters.
The plan paid off immediately in the short window of play on a miserable, mizzly Saturday afternoon in northwest London. After Daryl Mitchell, who steps out to fast bowlers so often that it has become his trademark, shuffled forward to block Robinson's back-of-length ball into the leg side, Smith called for England's 12th man to bring him a helmet and duly stood up.
Robinson's next ball pitched on a near-perfect length, jagged in off the seam and thudded into the front pad, with Mitchell stuck on the crease. He threw his head back in frustration when ball-tracking returned an "umpire's call" verdict after his review, with the ball projected to trim his leg stump, but he could not argue that he had been outwitted by England.
Smith was unusually animated in his appeal, and was the first man over to celebrate with Robinson. It will be tough to accept for a bowler whose ability to sustain his pace is under more scrutiny than ever as he returns to Test cricket, but Robinson may well benefit from having the keeper up from time to time, particularly when he bowls with an older ball or in Asia.
Robinson was embraced by a grinning Stokes after Adrian Holdstock raised his finger, and Mitchell's dismissal represented a small win for his captaincy. Stokes will face greater challenges this summer than finding ways to create chances as a surface that has been loaded in bowlers' favour - 22 of the 35 wickets have been either bowled or lbw - but after he looked short on ideas during a chastening Ashes tour, his creativity deserves at least some credit.
There is an unavoidable irony in England's long-term plan to overhaul their seam-bowling attack and create a battery of fast bowlers with the attributes to succeed in all conditions turning into Robinson bowling with the keeper up. But it is also a tactic that should have helped them secure the one thing they need more than any other right now: a win.