It was fitting that Geraint Jones should learn about his first England Test cap on the birthday of Alan Knott.
Knott made the last of his 95 Test appearances in 1981, but now another Kent wicket-keeper has the chance to establish a permanent place in the national side.
He is not the first to have the opportunity.
Paul Downton toured Pakistan and New Zealand as Bob Taylor's understudy in 1977-78 while Knott was on the payroll of Kerry Packer, and Paul Nixon filled the same role behind Alec Stewart in Pakistan and Sri Lanka in 2000-01.
Both were capable performers behind the stumps, but Jones has the added bonus of having the potential to be a top-class batsman at international level as well, according to informed sources.
Scoring almost 900 first-class runs for Kent in 2003 earned Jones a winter trip to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and West Indies, and he made no bones about his ambitions.
"Ultimately I want to become the Test keeper, but that's going to be a bit of a waiting game to start with," he said.
"Hopefully I won't have to wait too long."
His attitude clearly impressed the England team management, who decided to break the old adage of 'Never change a winning team' for the fourth Test against West Indies in Antigua.
With three wins in the bank and the prospect of a series whitewash ahead, they decided to replace Chris Read with Jones despite his lack of match practice since arriving in the Caribbean.
"He's been knocking on the door all winter and deserves his chance. We feel the time has come and he'll be given a decent run in the side now, like Chris Read was," said skipper Michael Vaughan.
That is an approach welcomed by Jones' county skipper, David Fulton.
"You can't judge people on one Test match and the great thing about Duncan Fletcher and Michael Vaughan is they will give people a good run in the side," Fulton told BBC Sport.
"There used to be a large number of one-cap wonders. Hopefully, those days are now behind us.
Jones, who was born in Papua New Guinea of Welsh parents but brought up in Australia, is something of a late developer.
He did not make his Kent debut in 2001 but club officials saw enough promise to allow Nixon to leave at the end of the season.
"We were prepared to let Paul Nixon go because we knew how good this guy was - and that wasn't a decision taken lightly"
"Growing up in the culture of Australian sport has given him a certain hunger and will to win that maybe we don't have in such abundance over here," said Fulton.
"He's a very quick learner with a great work ethic, and a great guy to have in the team."
In an era blessed with the likes of Adam Gilchrist and Kumar Sangakkara, England want a wicket-keeper who can fill the dual role vacated by Stewart when he retired last summer.
And Fulton is in no doubt that Jones is that man.
"Geraint Jones is capable of scoring Test centuries and of doing a fantastic job behind the stumps.
"The fact that Alec Stewart was a better batsman than Jack Russell kept him in that job for a number of years and he was a fantastic servant. If Geraint can go on to do half of what Stewie did, he'll be serving his country well."
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