Cricket/ Sri Lanka v England, Third Test: Michael Vaughan may have had worse days as England captain but it needs a trawl into the recesses of the mind to remember any.

After three days of the final Test his side, which promised so much on the opening day of the first Test, is in tatters on the brink of utter humiliation, with little to look forward to beyond a flight home and some Yuletide cheer. They need it.

Batted out of the match and series by the magnificent wand of the magician Mahela Jayawardene and his associates, the new-ball pairing of Chaminda Vaas and Lasith Malinga, rapier and broadsword, laid waste to the England batting so brutally that before the 11th over of the innings was done, Ryan Sidebottom, the faithful bowler who had flogged his way through 34 of the 148.5 overs sent down before a merciful Sri Lanka declaration, found himself trudging to the crease with the scoreboard reading 33 for six.

That Sidebottom and Paul Collingwood survived for more than an hour together, with a break for rain in between times, is worth a mention only in as much as their seventh-wicket stand of 37 took the side beyond some of the low-water marks in England's Test batting history. But that was as good as it got.

The tail disappeared in a cocktail of incompetence and comedy as the tourists were all out for just 81, Muttiah Muralitharan having bowled only four overs, and suffered the ignominy of following on 418 behind.

Vaas, cunning in his Test match dotage and in all probability playing his final game on this ground, finished with four for 24, his new-ball spell decisive. More might follow today: while the one over for which there was then time was bowled not by Vaas but Murali, he spun the first ball hugely past the flailing bat of Alastair Cook as a summary reminder of what might lie ahead should the weather hold. England are in desperate straits.

New depths were plumbed nevertheless on a pitch that by its nature should not have produced such extremes.

Only six times since the second World War have they made fewer runs, and only twice in the first innings. It is England's lowest total since the 77 against Australia in Brisbane five years ago, and their lowest, home or away, against any Asian team.

Earlier, on a different pitch altogether apparently, Jayawardene, the job of obliterating England's chances of a comeback in the series achieved so meticulously on the first two days, cranked his batting up a gear and was unbeaten on 213, the fourth double-century of his career, when he called a halt at 499 for eight.

He and Vaas took their seventh-wicket stand to 183 before Vaas became a first success for Matthew Hoggard when just 10 short of his second Test hundred.

That Vaughan did his utmost to drop the simplest of chances was merely in keeping with England's performance in the field during the entire innings, which it is being charitable to describe as ham-fisted.

Yesterday, there was yet another bloomer from Matthew Prior, who dropped Jayawardene on 154, low to his right off the long-suffering Sidebottom.

All sorts of reasons and excuses will be found for England's batting display but stripped of any attempt at mitigation it was head-scratchingly dismal, a procession to rival any Sri Lankan ceremonial.

The fatigue the players must have felt after more than two days in the field, not to mention two of the last three in Colombo less than a week ago, will have had its effect, but that goes with the territory.

• Guardian Service

Scoreboard

Overnight: Sri Lanka 384-6 (Jayawardene 149 no, Dilshan 84).

Sri Lanka First Innings

Jayawardene not out 213

Vaas c Vaughan b Hoggard 90

Malinga b Collingwood 5

Extrasb1 lb14 w8 nb3 pens 0 26

Total8 wkts dec (148.5 overs) 499

Fall of wickets: 1-34 2-44 3-132 4-138 5-287 6-287 7-470 8-499.

Did Not Bat: Welegedara, Muralitharan.

Bowling: Sidebottom 34 9 95 1 Hoggard 32 4 121 1 S J Harmison 34 4 104 3 Panesar 26 3 76 0 Bopara 10 1 39 1 Collingwood 9.5 2 38 1 Pietersen 3 0 11 0.

England First Innings

Cook c Jayawardene b Vaas 13

Vaughan lbw b Vaas 1

Bell run out 1

K P Pietersen c Jayawardene b Mali 1

Collingwood b Welegedara 29

Bopara c Welegedara b Vaas 0

Prior b Vaas 4

Sidebottom c Dilshan b Muralitharan 11

Harmison not out 9

Hoggard c Jayawardene b Wele 0

M S Panesar run out 0

Extrasb4 nb8 pens 0 12

Total(30.5 overs) 81

Fall of wickets: 1-5 2-9 3-22 4-22 5-25 6-33 7-70 8-72 9-72. Bowling: Vaas 9.5 2 28 4 Malinga 9 2 26 1 Welegedara 8 1 17 2 Muralitharan 4 2 6 1.

England Second Innings Close

A N Cook not out 1

M P Vaughan not out 1

Extraspens 0 0

Total0 wkts (1 overs) 2

To Bat: I R Bell, K P Pietersen, P D Collingwood, R S Bopara, M J Prior, R J Sidebottom, S J Harmison, M J Hoggard, M S Panesar.

Bowling: Muralitharan 1 0 2 0