Joe Root has insisted that human error rather than poor preparation lay behind a string of dropped catches during a day of toil in the field for England. Travis Head, Alex Carey – twice – Josh Inglis and Michael Neser all got lifelines as Australia ended day two of the second Test on 378 for six, a lead of 44.
“We worked as hard as we could in the lead-up to this, we had five days of prep and we did a huge amount of catching,” Root said. “We made sure we utilised those two [training] sessions under lights well. You can’t replicate that surface, the bounce, the way the nicks come. It’s never going to be exactly the same, it’s never going to be perfect. All you can do is give yourself the best possible chance and I think we’ve done that.
“In the lead-up to this game we’ve got used to conditions, we’ve got used to the heat, we’ve got used to the surfaces. We’ve caught under lights, we’ve caught in daylight and tried to catch in twilight as well. Sometimes they don’t stick. We’re not perfect, we’re all human and we’re going to make mistakes. It’s how we respond. It’s about making sure we turn up tomorrow with the right frame of mind, the right attitude, and knowing our best game of cricket is good enough to do very special things here.”
Jake Weatherald, whose 72 was his first Test half-century for Australia, sympathised with England’s fielders, describing seeing the pink ball at the Gabba as “another level hard”. “We were lucky we didn’t get as many catches square of the wicket as them,” he said. “It is really difficult. It was hard [in Perth] last week with the red ball against the crowds. This week has been another level hard, especially square of the wicket. I feel for them, I understand how hard it is out there, especially when the ball is being hit hard and there is a bit of dew on the wicket as well. It comes flying at you and it’s not great visuals.”
Root described England’s position as “not massively out of the game at all … actually not too far behind as long as we get things right early tomorrow”. That this is the case has a lot to do with Root ending England’s innings unbeaten on 138, finally securing his first Test century in Australia.
“I’ve said a few times, this tour is not about me, it’s not about me scoring a hundred in Australia,” he said. “My job is to score as many runs as I can. As a senior batter I expect that of myself and I’ll go out there with the same attitude every single time.”
