Joe Root has insisted that human error rather than poor preparation was to blame for a string of missed catches during a day of toil in the field for England. Travis Head, Alex Carey – twice – Josh Inglis and Michael Neser were all given lifelines as Australia ended day two of the second Test at 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 preparation and we caught a huge amount,” Root said. “We made sure we took advantage of those two [training] sessions under light well. You can’t recreate that surface, the bounce and the way the indentations come. It will never be exactly the same, it will never be perfect. All you can do is give yourself the best chance possible and I think we did that.
“In the build-up to this match we’ve got used to the 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 we’ve also tried to catch at dusk. Sometimes they don’t stick. We’re not perfect, we’re all human and we’re going to make mistakes. It’s how we react. It’s about making sure we turn up tomorrow with the right frame of mind, the right attitude and knowing our best cricket is good enough to do very special things here.”
Jake Weatherald, whose 72nd was his debut Test half-century for Australia, sympathized with the England fielders and described seeing the pink ball at the Gabba as “another level of difficulty”. “We were lucky that we didn’t get as many catches on the wicket as they did,” he said. “It’s really hard. It was hard [in Perth] last week with the red ball against the crowds. This week was another difficult level, especially the square of the wicket. I feel for them, I understand how difficult it is out there, especially when the ball is hit hard and there is also a bit of dew on the wicket. It comes flying at you and it’s not great images.’
Root described England’s position as “not massively out of the game at all… not too far behind actually, as long as we get things right early tomorrow”. That this is the case has a lot to do with the fact that Root ended England’s innings unbeaten on 138, ultimately securing his maiden Test century in Australia.
“I’ve said a few times: this tour isn’t about me, it’s not about me getting 100 points in Australia,” he said. “My job is to score as many runs as I can. As a senior batsman, I expect that from myself and I will go out with the same attitude every time.”
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