“Nooooo!”

There was something about Dan Lawrence’s pained groan at Edgbaston in England’s first innings of the third Test against Pakistan. For a split second it looked as if he might plunge his bat into the turf like some tormented Norse warrior. His stumps had already been flattened by his own hand, an attempt to run the ball down past point off Mohammad Imran had ended in him hacking an innocuous delivery emphatically on to them.

The stump microphone amplified Lawrence’s anguished reaction, the noise emanating from his mouth oscillating somewhere between the visceral howl of treading on an upturned plug and the disappointed yelp of missing the last train home. He had been bowled for 65 and another chance of a first Test century had gone begging.

Test batters will tell you how they didn’t feel they “belonged” until they had made a century. That the longer they had to wait to cross the Rubicon of three figures the more it weighed them down. Lawrence has played 17 Tests for England since his first call-up in 2021. It has been a career of fits and starts through no fault of his own; the past five years have seen him bat at Nos 7, 6, 5, 4 and 3 as well as a doomed stint as a makeshift opener. It’s those starts that will eat away at him though.

Lawrence is a wonderful cricketer to watch, all quicksilver wrists and homespun swagger with the bat while his jerky, “judderman” off-spin bowling and razor-sharp fielding make him an asset to any side.

In 2021, he made a plucky 73 in his very first Test dig on a spinning pitch in Galle. He was left unbeaten on 81 not out at Edgbaston against New Zealand that summer. The following March he got within a few strokes of a century in Barbados but plinked an easy catch to cover in the last over of the day.

Lawrence knows how to score centuries. As a 17-year-old in 2015 he became the third-youngest player to make a County Championship century when he scored 161 for Essex against Surrey. Before his recall to the Test setup for the Pakistan series this summer he made five centuries in Division One of the championship including a double hundred against Hampshire.

Against Pakistan he made half-centuries in each Test, at Edgbaston he was player of the match for his runs, two wickets and a sublime diving catch. No doubt he’d give all that up and then some to have made a better decision when set on 65 and a maiden Test ton in his sights. England were in complete command – ahead by 160 runs and with Pakistan’s makeshift bowling attack there for the taking. Getting to three figures would have nailed down Lawrence’s place for the foreseeable with plenty of competition for Test batting places.

“The personal milestone achieved within a team game is one of cricket’s distinctive charms” writes Andy Zaltzman on the century. “With few if any parallels in any other sport … the transition from a two-figure to a three-figure score is cricket’s signature individual triumph. It carves an immutable notch in a player’s history and, at the highest level, an eternal legacy in the annals of the game.”

This summer’s series against Pakistan yielded precisely zero hundreds from either side, the first time a series in England (of at least three matches) hasn’t featured a century since 1888. Do we put too much emphasis on them? Perhaps. Ben Duckett is England’s only centurion this Test summer but his form has fallen off a cliff since tonning up at Trent Bridge against New Zealand. By the time Harry Brook lands in South Africa for the series beginning in December he won’t have made a Test century in 17 months … yet he has been England’s most consistent performer with the bat in that period and averages 53.

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And yet the chins will start to wag about the sagging century column for Brook and the nonexistent one for Lawrence. The century is batting’s yardstick, from the amateur game to the very highest level. Blame it on a decimal counting system if you want. Blame your lack of one on a lifetime of dodgy dismissals, snakepit surfaces and apparently “unplayable” deliveries. Whatever. When it comes to centuries, you’ve either made one or you haven’t.

A man who knows that all too well is Mason Crane. After more than 10 years as a professional cricketer the Glamorgan leg-spinner has seen his batting form flourish in the past couple of years, culminating in a maiden first-class century against Surrey earlier this summer. “It’s so cool to be able to say you’ve got one,” he says. “That extra column … it’s special. Everyone still puts plenty of weight on it.”

Last week Crane scored his second first-class ton, against Surrey once again. The bowler he reached the milestone off on both occasions? Dan Lawrence.

“I’ve known Dan for so long, there’s no way he would have thought he’d be bowling to me on 99 ever, never mind twice in a matter of weeks!” he said.

Perhaps it was surreal for Lawrence. Only a few days after Edgbaston, you suspect it also might have been a little bit painful.

• This is an extract from the Guardian’s weekly cricket email, The Spin. To subscribe, just visit this page and follow the instructions.