England were in danger of meltdown last night after another below-par batting display ended in embarrassment and provoked signs of discord among the team. With South Africa taking control of the third npower Test at Edgbaston, any hope that the ten-wicket defeat at Headingley Carnegie would prove to be the low point of the series appeared to be optimistic.

Peter Moores, the head coach, acknowledged only that the total of 231 was “disappointing” and denied that a verbal altercation between Ryan Sidebottom and Monty Panesar at the start of the South Africa innings, after an earlier show of anger by Andrew Flintoff, was evidence of conflict within the dressing-room.

The performance of Flintoff, left adrift by a farcical end to the England innings, was one of the few bright sparks as Michael Vaughan, the captain, failed again after a first-ball duck and Paul Collingwood, recalled despite his wretched form, laboured for 22 balls over four runs.

Vaughan shook his head in bemuse-ment as much as dissent after a thin edge off Andre Nel that was picked up on television by the Snickometer - the evidence of Hot Spot was inconclusive. Uncertainty also surrounded the dismissal of Kevin Pietersen, given out caught after appeals for leg-before.

Flintoff began to hit out after the fall of the eighth wicket, forcing Makhaya Ntini to duck for cover from a straight-driven four, before losing James Anderson and Panesar to run-outs from the fifth and sixth balls of the over. He stomped off without waiting for Panesar, who had called for an impossible second run.

Panesar then incurred the wrath of Ryan Sidebottom, who had been warned for aggressive behaviour towards teammates on the winter tour to New Zealand, after failing to dive to save a boundary. When Sidebottom had another go at Panesar a ball later, the spinner gestured in annoyance.

Moores said: “We are over Headingley. We have been in good spirits. We certainly wanted more runs and that was disappointing especially after a decent start. The run-outs were disappointing, but we expected our top order to establish a base and it was a shame because Flintoff was starting to look dangerous.

“There were frustrations right at the end. He [Flintoff] was hitting the ball well and he wanted to carry on. Sport is what it is. You go out there and get stuck in and sometimes with each other. Sometimes you cajole each other, sometimes you shout at each other. Now we have to scrap hard and show some character.”

Flintoff backed up his innings by removing Graeme Smith with his second ball, but South Africa, who will win a first series in England since being readmitted in 1991 if they triumph here, will resume this morning only 193 runs behind, with nine wickets in hand.

Since scoring 593 runs in their only innings in the first Test at Lord’s, England have been six down for as few as 150, 152 and now 173. The typical response of the selectors to bad batting has been to drop bowlers, in which case Sidebottom and Anderson are entitled to feel concerned about their futures.

The brightest contribution came from Ian Bell (50), the highest from Alastair Cook, whose 76 looked the equivalent of David Miliband’s letter yesterday to The Guardian that was viewed as a bid for the Labour Party leadership. Cook would be a candidate for the captaincy should Vaughan’s position come under threat.

Not for the first time, Moores defended Collingwood, who was recalled to provide an extra batsman after the Headingley Test. “He has had a bad run of scores, but we are supporting him because we think he can come through,” Moores said.