Close England 515 and 114 for 0 (Trescothick 58*, Vaughan 47*) lead India 508 (Dravid 217, Caddick 4-114) by 121 runs
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From such great beginnings, the final Test of the summer is fizzling out to a humble end. For a while, as Rahul Dravid was rubbing England's noses in a mess of their own making, and Michael Vaughan was sending spasms of worry through the England camp by turning the ball like a makeshift Murali, there were suggestions that India might sneak up the rails and pinch a Test that England, frankly, had spurned.

But Marcus Trescothick and Vaughan were on hand to make amends, and by the close they had added an unbeaten 114 for the first wicket to take England to the brink of safety.

The day though, belonged to Dravid, whose gargantuan innings of 217 was the bread, butter and luncheon meat of a very lopsided Indian batting card, in which no other batsman topped 57. While he was at the crease, steaming on and on with the same intensity of concentration he had shown from his very first ball, England seemed to be jogging headlong into trouble. But then, just when they were facing the very real possibility of a first-innings deficit and a tricky evening against the Indian spinners, The Wall came tumbling down – run out by his new partner, Ajay Ratra – and normality was resumed.

Dravid's innings was a masterclass of temperament and technique, and the culmination of an epic summer of run-guzzling. As his innings progressed, he piled milestone upon milestone. One four off Andrew Caddick made him the first man to reach 1000 Test runs in 2002. A spanking drive and a nudge to fine leg off Matthew Hoggard carried him to 200 not out, the second double-century of his Test career, and by the time he was finally prised from the crease, he had batted for more than 31 hours in the series, the equivalent of an entire five-day Test.

He had been dropped by Ashley Giles off Alex Tudor on 168 - a sharp chance in the gully - but apart from that it was immaculate, pristine stuff. He looked as though he would bat forever.

Dravid yelled in disgust when he realised he was out, but recovered his composure in time to acknowledge Ratra's apology on his way past to the dressing-room. It was, however, the end of the illusion. At that stage India were a mere 42 runs adrift, with 46 overs remaining in the day. Instead Hussain was shaken from his torpor, finally deigning to post attacking fields to aid his bowlers.

It was about time too. England's lack of ambition in the morning session was dreadful to behold. Caddick and Hoggard were afforded just two slips with the second new ball, and though Caddick in particular hit the bat hard in an ardent spell, it all had the feel of one last effort. When the breakthrough didn't come, Hussain cut his cloth accordingly, bringing on Cork and Giles in an attempt to slow the rate.

Cork again tried to reinvent himself as Patrick Patterson - there's only three of four yards of pace between them - banging almost everything in short. But Dravid simply turned his nose up at the tactic to begin with, and then belted two fours behind square in three balls to remind Cork and England who was boss. Chastened by this treatment, Cork later throttled back and began to kiss the deck and swing the ball in the manner for which he was selected.

Vaughan demonstrated just how much there was on offer for the spinners when he reproduced his Trent Bridge wonderball to bowl Ajit Agarkar for a handy 31 (465 for 6). With flight, loop and dip, and a venomous deviation, the ball beat Agarkar's clumsy drive and uprooted his middle stump. Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble, united at the crease when the tea-break arrived, would have been licking their fingers in anticipation. But though England have given up the good fight, Trescothick and Vaughan demonstrated enough resolve to ensure their summer's progress has merely stalled, rather than self-destructed.

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