It's been a long, hard summer, and England can be forgiven one bad day at the office. At a pinch, they can even be afforded two – after all, they did put in a lot of overtime in that astonishing victory over Sri Lanka at Old Trafford, and their dominance over India in the first two Tests was achieved despite an injury crisis of epidemic proportions. But three stinkers in a row? This time, they really are pushing their luck.

The tone for the day was set in the 35-minute period in the first hour, in which four catches went to ground. It might have been a cunning ploy to keep India in the field for another precious few minutes. But, judging by the ashen face of Robert Key, who dropped two more sitters to add to his howler at slip last night, and then sloped off to open the innings, it was a ploy that backfired spectacularly.

For once, Nasser Hussain could not even plead that England's bowlers were "inexperienced". True, their attack is not quite back to full-strength, but a line-up of Andrew Caddick, Matthew Hoggard, Alex Tudor, Andrew Flintoff and Ashley Giles is as long in the tooth as they come – Tudor, lest it be forgotten, made his debut on the Ashes tour of 1998-99. The cricket calendar is about to come full circle.

But it is that man Caddick who really takes the biscuit. He claims to pay no attention to stats, yet this morning he somehow snuck in with three of the least relevant wickets ever claimed – Darren Gough, who compiles his figures with the precision of an atomic clock, would have been proud. Anonymous as ever when it really mattered, Caddick has again demonstrated his inability to lead the line.

But, if the bowling was bad – again – then what followed was totally and utterly abysmal. England have been passing 500 for fun all summer, but when the laughter stopped, the resolve was nowhere to be seen.

Key did his best, albeit with a gruesome technique that Glenn McGrath will have for lunch, tea and drinks this winter. He may know where his off stump is, but a backlift that wafts towards third slip was bound to be found out sooner or later, and Zaheer Khan duly obliged.

Michael Vaughan, however, had no such excuse, and his dismissal was the most criminal of all. Forget, if you can, that Laxman had just reprieved him with the sort of dolly that will bring a smile back to Eric Upashantha's face. It was the fact that he fell to Ajit Agarkar that was the true indignity. Vaughan is in the form of his life, batting like a watertight David Gower. India's seamers, on the other hand, have leaked runs and perspiration in equal measure all summer, with Agarkar particularly culpable.

India's fielders, and even the umpires, had conspired to help England battle towards the follow-on. But Vaughan threw the offer straight back in their face. If only he had fallen to one of the spinners. That would have been a far worthier way to go.

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