{"id":330613,"date":"2025-12-06T02:16:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T02:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/330613\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T02:16:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T02:16:10","slug":"uk-view-england-slammed-day-two-third-test-australia-vs-england-dropped-catches-bowling-ben-stokes-jamie-smith-ben-duckett-joe-root","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/330613\/","title":{"rendered":"UK View, England slammed, day two, third Test, Australia vs England, dropped catches, bowling, Ben Stokes, Jamie Smith, Ben Duckett, Joe Root"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UK press have been brutal in summing up a horror day two of the second Test for England, after they dropped five catches to allow Australia to claim the upper hand<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Australia lead the series 1-0 and are in control with a 44 run lead on the first innings and four wickets still in hand.<\/p>\n

Victory in Brisbane would see England need to win the remaining three Test to reclaim the Ashes urn.<\/p>\n

Reacting to another rollercoaster day, the British media as well as past players and pundit lamented England\u2019s inability to put together a complete performance with more than one declaring it one of the worst effort with the ball of under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum.<\/p>\n

Watch The Ashes 2025\/26 LIVE and ad-break free during play with FOX CRICKET on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1 ><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Former England captain Nasser Hussain said England committed the cardinal sin at the Gabba.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is nothing in between with this England side, they are either really poor or they show a bit of character and try and fight back towards the end of the day,\u201d Hussain said on Sky Sports Cricket Podcast<\/a><\/p>\n

DAY 3 LIVE: \u2018Get off the f***ing pitch\u2019: Root\u2019s Stokes plea as great issues warning<\/a><\/p>\n

All 5 England missed catches | 00:27<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is just a given that you rock up to Australia and the Gabba and you don\u2019t get carried away with the bounce. You do not bowl short and wide to anyone, anywhere in the world. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never seen so many cuts and ramps in the first 15 overs of a new spell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former England opener Mike Atherton was similarly perplexed by England\u2019s tactics with the ball and atrocious fielding. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an extraordinary day,\u201d Atherton added to Hussain\u2019s comments. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it is so hard to bring some clarity to it because they were awful in the morning.<\/p>\n

Jamie Smith had a tough day with the gloves.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cAustralia were going at six an over with England bowling short and wide and getting clattered to all parts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the 57th over you thought England were out of the game. Australia had the game much like England had the game yesterday. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then Brydon Carse, who had been hammered all around the ground suddenly picks up those two wickets and a dropped catch in the 57th over and then you thought England are right back in this. <\/p>\n

Weatherald reflects on Day 2 batting | 07:52<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then they drop four catches afterwards and Australia have got themselves ahead of the game. Australia are not as far ahead of the game as they should have been and England are still in the game. But those dropped catches hurt England tonight.\u201d <\/p>\n

One of the biggest culprits in the field was England wicketkeeper Jamie Smith who endured a horror day with the gloves Australia\u2019s supporters mercilessly mocking him. <\/p>\n

Former England spinner Phil Tufnell, no stranger to the taunts of an Aussie crowd, admitted said the atmosphere could take a toll on Smith. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt chips away you it really does,\u201d Tufnell said on BBC\u2019s Test Match special.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I\u2019m afraid he just looked a little bit lead footed and a little bit startled. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the other one the Joe Root drop, well I think that might have been his (Smith\u2019s) when he should have gone to his left-hand side. Joe Root was sort of wider at first slip. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt effects your legs and they become a bit like lead and you become a bit indecisive.\u201d <\/p>\n

READ MORE<\/p>\n

\u2018They were garbage\u2019: Ashes mess Poms could live to regret as Aussie dilemma re-ignites<\/a><\/p>\n

Aussies sneak into Brisbane box seat despite \u2018baffling\u2019 brain-fades, super Stokes brilliance<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018Both playing dumb cricket\u2019: 10 mins of madness as Aussies go Bazball <\/a><\/p>\n

Ben Stokes couldn\u2019t believe what he was seeing from his fielders.Source: AP<\/p>\n

The Telegraph UK\u2019 Nick Hoult, meanwhile.<\/a> labelled it the worst bowling since Brendan McCullum took over as coach. <\/p>\n

He also questioned England\u2019s decision to not participate in a pink ball warm-up match. A move that appeared to backfire after their effort in the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cBatsmen bobbed and weaved under a barrage of bouncers on a blood-and-thunder day of Ashes cricket at a feral Gabba but it was Australia on top by the end thanks to one of the worst bowling performances of the Bazball era,\u201d Hoult wrote. <\/p>\n

\u201cAustralia cruised at 5.17 an over, helped by five dropped catches and bowling that was at times atrocious and unable to exert pressure for long enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEngland dropped four catches under the lights, perhaps the result of failing to play a proper pink-ball match as warm-up. Preparation in the nets is one thing, but a game situation cannot be replicated quite so easily, and England\u2019s record in day-night cricket when fielding under the lights has always been dodgy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoult said there was a clear pattern emerging from the early days of the series.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis series is only four days old but a grim pattern has emerged: England just do not play well enough for long enough with bat, ball or in the field to threaten a weakened Australia side.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery Australian batsman reached double figures and five of the six partnerships put on at least 37 \u2013 the first four all cruising past 50 stands \u2013 a sharp contrast to the four ducks in England\u2019s innings.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was achieved by treating England\u2019s main threat with respect. Jofra Archer took one for 74 from 20 overs and deserved better, Jamie Smith dropping a howler with the new ball that could have changed the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustralia just waited for the others to serve up dross.<\/p>\n

Root reflects on Poms’ missed catches | 11:29<\/p>\n

The Telegraph\u2019s cricket correspondent from the Gabba<\/a> Will Macpherson summed up the difference between the two sides in the field, which has Australia closing in on a 2-0 lead. <\/p>\n

He pointed the battle between rival keepers, Alex Carey and Smith as a pivotal match-up, one that the Australian is comfortably winning.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, Carey is dominating the battle, especially after his second-evening cameo that benefited from England\u2019s poor catchingm: Macpherson wote.<\/p>\n

\u201cSmith could be an immense Test batsman, whether he has the gloves or not, but he is in a lean run stretching back to the Lord\u2019s Test against India, and has 75 runs in seven innings, including a first-day duck, bowled by a beautiful nip-backer from Scott Boland.<\/p>\n

\u201cSmith went into that Lord\u2019s Test with an average of 58.6, but has tailed off, due to fatigue against India and a desire to take on the short ball in Australia. Now, he has suffered a loss of concentration in the field, and the mock jeering of the unforgiving Gabba crowd every time he caught the ball for the rest of the day. He is a very level character, but this will test him.<\/p>\n

The drop of Head cost 30 runs. The greater cost was less tangible. It set the tone for a day of sloppy fielding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Telegraph Chief Sports Writer<\/a> Oliver Brown labelled Jofra Archer\u2019s one-sided battle with Steve Smith a nightmare.<\/p>\n

\u201cJofra Archer looked like a man trapped in his own private nightmare, face-to-face with his implacable nemesis once more,\u201d Brown wrote. <\/p>\n

Controversial call with the pink ball | 02:12<\/p>\n

\u201cIt tormented him that Steve Smith, whom he peppered with such vicious bouncers at Lord\u2019s in 2019 that even Australia\u2019s most resilient batsman had to miss the next match, was somebody he had never dismissed in a Test.<\/p>\n

That battled resumed at the Gabba. Archer with a pink ball in hand, under lights, and ready to inflict more damage on the Australian.<\/p>\n

\u201cExcept Smith, usually a diagram of agitation, did not seem flustered in the least,\u201d Brown wrote. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe worst wound of all, though, was the wonderfully deliberate six with which Smith punished a short ball, bending back and swatting it over the rope with a minimum of fuss.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo much for any scar tissue from his previous punishment. The stand-in captain was in the mood, like his team-mates, to respond to the England pace attack with a decisiveness bordering on disdain.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UK press have been brutal in summing up a horror day two of the second Test for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":330614,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,689,129295,20341,11405,167770,2090,88648,184934,102408,184930,184927,184741,184921,184922,184923,184738,184932,184931,12548,43485,44226,17066,184929,138794,24773,677,24820,22975,184924,174076,184928,184933,2643,85,18784,5338,24833,184925,184926],"class_list":["post-330613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-opener","tag-ben-duckett","tag-box-seat","tag-brendan-mccullum","tag-british-broadcasting-corporation","tag-brydon-carse","tag-catches-hurt","tag-controversial-call","tag-cricket-correspondent","tag-dan-norcross","tag-dilemma-re-ignites","tag-dropped-catches","tag-england-batting-sensation","tag-england-wicketkeeper","tag-english-fieldsmen","tag-extraordinary-day","tag-fielding-performance","tag-fox-cricket","tag-horror-day","tag-jake-weatherald","tag-joe-root","tag-madcap-final","tag-mike-atherton","tag-nasser-hussain","tag-oceania","tag-oliver-brown","tag-phil-tufnell","tag-pink-ballcricket","tag-pink-ball","tag-resilient-batsman","tag-run-lead","tag-sky-sports","tag-sports","tag-steven-smith","tag-the-gabba","tag-the-times","tag-worst-bowling","tag-worst-bowling-performances"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}