In the build-up to this Test match, Michael Vaughan said that England go out to bat in every first innings with the aim of reaching 400. Just for the record - because it may not be obvious - I must state that whenever I lift the lid of my laptop I intend to write the next Wuthering Heights. That does not happen, either.

When the captain acknowledged that England “more often than not” have “fallen short of the 400 or 450 we look to achieve” he was rather over-selling the sizzle. In the past ten first innings, yesterday's collapse included, England's highest score has been 351 (against Sri Lanka in Colombo), their average as low as 270.

Meanwhile, the opposition mean has been 387 with five totals beyond 400 and a top score of 664, by India at the Brit Oval last year. Cricket being a team game, these are more important statistics than the personal averages above 40 that the England top six can all boast. The fact is that England are being out-batted too often.

Yesterday, the crowd cheered - in relief more than sarcasm - when the last-wicket pair took the side beyond the follow-on mark. A few minutes later, Billy Cooper, the resident Barmy Army trumpeter, blasted out the theme to The Great Escape. And this against opponents described by Vaughan as “workmanlike”.

One view has it that central contracts have bred cosiness. But that does not hold where the batting is concerned. Complacent batsmen would be flashing airly and whistling happy tunes back to the pavilion. Instead, they are poking and prodding their way to their doom. That sporting virus, the fear of failure, is spreading.

Never has there been a more lucrative time to be an England cricketer. And never for those in the team has there been more to lose. A contracted player who features in every game in all forms can earn roughly £400,000 a year in appearances alone. Endorsements and bonuses push the figure well beyond that.

The Stanford match has raised the stakes even higher. Who would want to risk the chance of earning £500,000 for a single Twenty20 win with an ambitious shot in a Test match that goes wrong? The flip side of consistent selection and extended runs (unless you happen to be Owais Shah) is that a recall can be many months away.

Graham Gooch, who has scored more Test runs for England than anybody, believes that the side is playing “wait and see cricket”. On a blog for the BBC Sport website, he wrote: “I am very concerned about the direction that the England team are going with their batting.” They have to make a stronger effort to set a better tempo.

Paul Collingwood is suffering a wretched season with 39 runs in seven innings, 14 in the past six in all cricket. He says that an injured right shoulder is not restricting his skills after a third cortisone injection before the first Test, but surgery will be required eventually and an operation now may be a blessing for the long term.

Ian Bell is that greatest of enigmas, a high-class strokemaker who reserves his best for when it matters least. He has scored seven Test hundreds but in each case after a team-mate has reached three figures earlier in the innings. A moderate side cannot afford a player who will not take responsibility under pressure.

Kevin Pietersen's position is not in jeopardy, but he is sending appalling signals with constant references to the money that he feels that he should be making in the Indian Premier League. His latest attempt to win sympathy came in an interview supported by one of his many sponsors in a newspaper supplement.

Sounding like Keith Harris's self-pitying puppet duck Orville singing, “I Wish I Could Fly”, Pietersen said: “I could earn $1million for playing six weeks, but I can't.” The ECB, he said, will not allow it - “and that is hard to take”. What is truly hard to take is a player talking about money for extracurricular work when he is underachieving in his day job.

Selectors responded to England's last defeat by dropping Stephen Harmison and Matthew Hoggard. This time the bowlers have kept them in the game and today may well represent one final chance for certain batsmen. The sleepers, as Emily Bronte put it, would have suffered some unquiet slumbers last night.

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