Dom Bess is hoping to harness the "crazy" days of his Lord's debut and cement his England place in the second NatWest Test at Headingley.
There is precious little time for the 20-year-old to reflect on a maiden Test which contained an unexpected half-century from him at number eight but also the collective disappointment of a nine-wicket defeat against Pakistan.
Bess and Jos Buttler gave England fleeting hope of a comeback with their century stand on the third evening.
But in Bess' own words, it was not "meant to be" for Joe Root's men - who capsized instead to a sixth defeat in their last eight Tests and must therefore win in Leeds, starting on Friday, to avoid losing a third successive series.
Describing his debut as "amazing", Bess said: "Now that it has all finished, I can look back on a crazy few days.
"Obviously I'm gutted how the game ended - because I thought we got ourselves into a position that gave us an opportunity to do something.
"But to make your debut at Lord's has been a dream come true."
Bess took guard at 110 for six in England's second innings, with the reassuring sight at the other end of a cricketer he grew up hoping he may one day emulate.
Buttler had flown the nest from Somerset to Lancashire by the time a teenage Bess joined the county academy.
But through the Bess cricket clan, embedded at the Devon seaside club of Sidmouth and well-known at Taunton too, England's new seventh-wicket pair were well aware of one another.
"He's played a lot of cricket with my cousins, who are his sort of age, but I just missed him at Somerset," said the new boy.
"I've always looked up to him. He is a world-class player - and even though we don't know each other well, we've known of each other.
"It was an amazing feeling to get my first half-century for England, a very special moment.
"The final morning was disappointing, losing Jos early before the new ball arrived."
The match ended in anti-climax, and some soul-searching, for out-of-sorts England.
Bess did not manage to take a wicket as frontline spinner, but nonetheless had the time of his life.
"I loved every second of it," he said.
"It felt a bit surreal sitting in the dressing room with the likes of Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad, Alastair Cook, Ben Stokes, Joe Root - to sit there with all those players with what they've achieved so far was a very special feeling.
"I wasn't fazed by the crowd or the occasion and the media attention. It was just another game of cricket.
"Come Headingley, I've got to put in a good performance with the ball and try to cement a place in the side."
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