There is a Baptist church just up the hill from Headingley and its foyer contains a placard, a biblical thought for the day. Yesterday's message was “Regime change starts in the heart”. But when the regime to be changed is the oppressive tone of a cricket match, the mind is just as important and England's failure here can be ascribed to hearts and minds never quite working in accord.

Of the two routes to salvation from the position in which England found themselves on the fourth day, one may be called the Botham blitz and the other Athertonian attrition. One is epitomised by Headingley 1981 and the other by Johannesburg 1995. Botham transformed the 1981 match against Australia with his power and presence. No less memorable, for those who saw it, was the near 11-hour marathon of self-denial by Atherton 14 years later. Each was a rare feat of defiance, polar opposites in their execution.

England's downfall, on a mockingly sunlit Monday, was an inability to settle on either method. So we had lengthy periods of introspection followed by a flurry of cavalier strokes, the pattern repeating itself in a way that seldom looked likely to leave anything for today.

It did not help that two of the batsmen best equipped for the vigilant option - Andrew Strauss and Michael Vaughan - were out on Sunday. In their stead, England looked to have no strong belief that the pattern of this one-sided match could be revised. No lack of effort can be suggested, nor any overt defeatism. In their individual ways, every England batsman applied himself to the mountainous challenge of erasing a first-innings deficit of 319. But they did not do so as a unit with a single-minded plan.

Five players reached 30, but only Alastair Cook and the increasingly impressive batting of Stuart Broad turned such starts into even a fifty, let alone the big hundred that was required. And, while South Africa bowled creditably on a largely bland surface, most dismissals came to shots that were looser than the occasion demanded.

They could hardly have been given a more instructive start than the cussed and courageous batting of James Anderson, the nightwatchman. Defending obstinately, apart from a couple of Gower-esque fours off the hapless non-spinners of Paul Harris, Anderson continued even after requiring treatment twice in the same over from Dale Steyn.

If the first blow, to his right wrist, was painful, the next hit him on the side of the helmet and laid him out. He got an ovation for carrying on, and another when he was out soon afterwards, but any psychological profits were quickly spurned.

England were within 15 minutes of reaching lunch without losing a wicket when Anderson succumbed, but Kevin Pietersen appeared to have every intention of going to his salad with 50 to his name. Three fours were struck with dismissive authority, but the macho approach lasted only five balls.

The afternoon was studded by symbolism. The Yorkshire club, apparently deciding that the match was on its last legs, announced that anyone could get in for £15 instead of £48. Then, at the drinks interval, a sponsor's commercial on the public address system had Perry Como warbling Accentuate the Positive. England, at the time, were 153 for six.

Twice in this session the match was delayed by complaints over the reflection of the sun, not an everyday occurrence on this ground. The South Africans might just as easily have been blinded by the glare of England's tight white kit, a commercial absurdity that gives them the look of junior schoolboys still to graduate to proper flannels. Certainly, the men-against-boys analogy has been appropriate to this contest. That England's first defeat in seven Tests should be by ten wickets and inside four days is all the more startling for what went before it.

At Lord's, only ten days ago, it was South Africa who faced humiliation after trailing massively on first innings. And they had played dismally for three days, evidently underprepared. Well, they are ready now, all right, and starting to look the formidable unit we were promised.

Makhaya Ntini, for whom the career obituaries were being prepared, looks a revitalised bowler after the ministrations of Shaun Pollock, his former bowling partner. And the most worrying thing for England is to find themselves 1-0 down in the series before Jacques Kallis has made a score. A little more than heart may be needed from here on in.