Paul Collingwood might have gone to sleep on Wednesday night dreaming of dismissing Sachin Tendulkar.
Instead, he spent Thursday afternoon watching the little Indian master dismiss his bowling to all parts of the Riverside.
And when Collingwood thought his day couldn't get any worse on his home ground, he suffered the ultimate embarrassment.
Tendulkar, on 98, slapped the ball to long-off and scampered his first run.
A second shouldn't have been on - only for Collingwood to fall flat on his face as he attempted to field, and Tendulkar gleefully accepted the gift to bring up his century.
Even in Collingwood's worst nightmares, he wouldn't have imagined that his homecoming would be so disastrous.
There was little wrong with one Collingwood delivery in his second spell - it was of good length, if perhaps a little straight - but Tendulkar lifted it contemptuously, sumptuously, over the mid-wicket boundary for six.
As the ground reverberated to the sound of KC And The Sunshine Band singing, "That's the way I like it," Collingwood was inclined to disagree.
Two balls later, the lad from Shotley Bridge was hit for four by the same batsman, and England captain Nasser Hussain showed compassion by withdrawing him from the firing line.
Sadly, it was only a temporary reprieve, and when Collingwood was recalled amid the carnage of the final ten overs, he received some fearful treatment.
Only the masochistic would have enjoyed being carted to all parts of their home ground, and 26-year-old Collingwood will wince at the thought of figures of 5-0-48-1.
His final over went for 20, including three fours from the flashing blade of Yuvraj Singh, as Tendulkar allowed the left-hander to tuck into Collingwood.
Even dismissing Dravid, with a high full toss that was slog-swept to Andrew Flintoff at deep square leg, did little to lift Collingwood's spirits.
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