A nation awoke, on a foggy Monday morning, and thought it was dreaming. England were cruising along at four an over, Nasser Hussain was racing towards a hundred, the Indian seamers were anodyne and the only people the spinners were troubling were the scoreboard operators. Then reality bit, and by the time Britain went to work, England had already had a very bad day at the office. This was a golden opportunity, and they first grabbed it, then blew it. It was the opening day of the 2001 Ashes all over again, without the blazing defiance from Alec Stewart (now purveying amiable platitudes on Sky TV) and Andy Caddick (lending an ear, no doubt, while holding the baby). There, England at least had the excuse that they were up against McGrath and Gillespie. Here, they were facing Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

For half the day, Mohali offered the ultimate in Indian hospitality. The ground was clean, the air was crisp, the pitch was green and so were the seamers. In a classic piece of heads-must-roll brainlessness, the Indian selectors had managed to pick three players who were total novices at this level, yet not unknown to England, who had faced them all (and won) only last week. This was a pitch on which all you needed was nous. Injured or not, Srinath would have pocketed five wickets by lunch.

Hussain and Marcus Trescothick duly cashed in. The rhythm they struck up against the new ball carried through to all the change bowlers bar Tendulkar. First Hussain dominated, then Trescothick. Kumble, England's tormentor in India eight years ago, went for 35 off six overs. England were doing what Australia do, or did until this weekend - using attack as the best form of defence.

And then everything went wrong. All it took was one misjudgement from Trescothick, a moment of slackness from Thorpe, a rare failure to capitalise from Hussain, and an uncharacteristic attempt by Ramprakash to invent a new stroke, the poke-paddle (previously seen only on the Regent's Park boating lake, when two boats get a little close). England badly needed Michael Vaughan, and they got Craig White and Andy Flintoff.

White has been in all-or-nothing mode in India, and today, with all to play for, he had nothing to offer. Flintoff confounded the profile-writers by playing like a man who had learnt nothing in his 18 months out of the Test team. When England handed him the new ball last week, they didn't mean he should bat like Darren Gough.

Hussain made a late bid to get the man-of-the-day award back from Harbhajan by tossing the ball to Mark Butcher, Mark Taylor style, and conjuring a wicket out of the thin north-Indian air. It didn't change the mood. The captain had led from the front, and only the first mate had followed.

Tim de Lisle is editor of Wisden.com.

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