England feel sting of familiar Ashes pain on day of missed chances in Brisbane

Ben Stokes’ side dropped five catches as Australia blazed into a lead of 44 with four wickets remaining

(Robbie Stephenson/PA Wire)

It was good, it was bad, and then it was terrible.

England may only trail by 44, but it feels like more. Day two at the Gabba was chaos punctuated by erratic bowling and poor catching.

“That’s third-grade standard,” former Aussie great Mark Waugh said on Fox Sports of England’s bowling display. “Look at this pitch map. That’s all over the place.”

"I just saw Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie," said Stuart Broad on Channel Seven. "I said to them England have bowled more bad balls today than you did in your entire careers."

“They were garbage,” added Michael Vaughan.

The end result is Australia finished on 378 for six. Rattling along at over five-an-over for the entire day, it is their fastest ever run-rate when they’ve batted for more than 70 overs. Of England’s seamers, only Jofra Archer conceded his runs at less than four an over. Gus Atkinson went at 4.33, Ben Stokes 5.47 and Brydon Carse 6.64.

But the maddening aspect is that despite this, despite a day where England lacked control and the ball was flying to all parts, they should have got away with it. Instead, they made the cardinal sin of committing two crimes at once. If you’re driving without insurance, at least stick to the speed limit and you might not get pulled over. And if you’re producing your worst bowling display of the Bazball era, at least take your catches, and you might still make it home safe. Instead, England dropped the ball. Five times.

Australia were 291 for three when England's moment of opportunity came. Cameron Green, well set on 45, inexplicably backed away to a Carse delivery and was clean bowled. From Alex Carey’s first ball, he was dropped poorly by Ben Duckett at gully. The chance, it appeared, had gone.

Will Jacks took a blinder of a catch to dismiss Steve Smith but Australia were in the ascendancy (Getty Images)

Two balls later, however, Will Jacks produced the catch of his life diving one-handed at a deepish square-leg to remove Steve Smith for 61. This was it. They had got away with it, as Carse’s double-wicket over had saved the match and Jacks’ catch had saved the Ashes. All former sins would be forgiven. The lead was still 42 and two new batters were at the crease. England, even after Stokes removed Inglis to take the Australian’s sixth wicket, would not capitalise.

Instead, as Australia continued to chip away at the deficit and turn it into a lead, Carse shelled a simple opportunity off Michael Neser. The lead at that point was 12, and Australia would have been seven down with the match in the balance. The day ended with Carey unbeaten on 46 and Neser on 15 having added 49 runs together. Both had been given lives by the generous English.

Brydon Carse took two wickets in an over but struggled with rhythm and couldn't keep Australia from scoring (Robbie Stephenson/PA Wire)

“It’s certainly different to a white ball under lights,” Joe Root said after play, himself guilty of one of the drops, although it would have been a spectacular catch at first slip. “We get a huge amount of exposure to that but it is different.

“I don’t think we’re massively out of the game at all, I think we’re actually not too far behind as long as we get things right early tomorrow.”

The start of Australia’s innings was spectacular. Three consecutive maidens, two from Archer and one from Atkinson appeared to set the tone for another relentless England bowling display. Archer in particular was superb, tying Travis Head in knots and keeping his scoring rate low. Eventually, with Head on 3 off 24 balls, he forced the edge. Archer celebrated, only for Jamie Smith behind the stumps to drop it. He spent the rest of the day being greeted with cheers by the Aussie crowd whenever he caught a ball thrown from the outfield. This was Ashes cricket, in a brutal environment, and it wasn’t pretty.

Jamie Smith dropping Travis Head on 3 was a sign of things to come as England repeatedly failed to take their chances (AFP via Getty Images)

Ben Duckett dropped Alex Carey on 0 with the Australian wicketkeeper now 46* overnight (Getty Images)

From the moment Head was dropped Australia were a team revived. Head, along with his opening partner Jake Weatherald, thrashed England to all parts. The ensuing four overs saw 41 runs scored as Carse came into the attack and conceded 14. Stokes then brought himself on and started with a full toss. His second over went for 11. The pace of the shift in momentum was staggering. It was not the first time this series that a match has catapulted in one direction in the space of half-an-hour, and it won’t be the last.

Carse’s figures made for brutal reading. After six overs he had gone for 54 runs, it was the third fastest an England bowler had conceded 50 runs in history. No matter what England tried, they couldn’t stem the flow. Australia scored a staggering 212 runs behind square as the tourists bowled short and the Aussies flashed hard. All five of their sixes were upper cuts or top edges.

“Clearly we didn’t get it right to start,” said Root.

Once again, England’s Ashes fate hangs by a thread. A poor day tomorrow will see the match all but gone and so too the series. And for a team as volatile as England, wishing for a quiet day is exactly that. A wish. They have wowed us before, but they have also hurt us. And so far, that pain has been familiar in Australia.