England's captain Ben Stokes, centre, reacts after bowls a delivery during the second Ashes cricket test match between Australia and England in Brisbane, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025.. (AP Photo/Tertius Pickard)With Australia ending the second day of the second Ashes test at Brisbane 44 runs ahead of England with four wickets in hand, it was an eventful day for the visitors. While England fought back to make Australia slump to 378 for 6 from 291 for 3, the Ben Stokes led side also dropped five catches during Australia’s innings on Friday. With England not taking their chances, former England captain Michael Vaughan called the team ‘that looked jaded’.
“I would have done things completely differently. What I saw today was a team that looked jaded. These fielding drills – they’re fantastic, but you know the ball is coming to you. In a game, you have no clue when it is coming to you and it is completely different. The art of taking chances is concentration. If you’re not out there on a regular basis practising for many hours, when that chance comes you have to be concentrating to take that opportunity. The only way you get good at that is by training the brain to do it,” Vaughan told the Test Match Special podcast.
Wicket-keeper Jamie Smith dropped Travis Head off the bowling of Jofra archer in the ninth over before Ben Duckett dropped Alex Carey first ball at gully in the 57th over after Green’s dismissal. Carse would pick the wicket of Smith in the same over with Will Jacks taking a stunning catch 25m from the boundary in the same over. Josh Inglis was then dropped at 21 at the gully by Duckett off the bowling of Ben Stokes in the 64th over before Stokes clean bowled Inglis in the same over.
Carse then dropped Michael Neser on six at cover in the 69th over bowled by Jofra Archer before Carey was dropped by Joe Root at slips on 25 off Gus Atkinson in the 70th over. Root talked about how the team had five training sessions at Brisbane with two sessions under lights.
“We worked as hard as we could,” said England batter Root. We did a huge amount of catching and making sure we utilised those two sessions under lights well. Sometimes the catches just don’t stick. You’ve got to keep applying yourself and wanting the ball so you’re ready when that next opportunity comes.
That’s one of the nuances of the game and this pink-ball Test match. 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 got used to the surfaces. We’ve caught under lights, we’ve caught in daylight and tried to catch in twilight as well. We’re not perfect, we’re all human and we’re going to make mistakes.” Root told the media after the end of the day’s play.
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