Absolute Ashes: Legend disappointed in surprise England star, preparation slammed following awful day, Ben Stokes’ disgust

Day two of the second Ashes Test didn’t go to plan for England – with Australia somehow in the lead.

The tourists were in a great position after day one, but added just nine to their overnight score to be on 334 all out – bringing Travis Head and Jake Weatherald to the crease early on.

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But Ben Stokes and co were all over the place with their bowling, and they never managed to build consistent pressure, allowing Australia to score easy runs.

Almost every Aussie batter made a contribution, and as it stands at the end of day two, they have a lead of 44 runs.

At the start of the day, it seemed unlikely that the hosts would get close to England‘s score, but they’ve surpassed it and still have four wickets in hand after FIVE dropped catches, including some straightforward ones.

And Australia are now in position to potentially end this Test on day three and take a 2-0 lead in the series.

Here at talkSPORT.com, this is our latest ‘Absolute Ashes’ column, providing all the latest news, views, analysis and moments you may have missed from Australia.

Problems in the field

Unfortunately, England didn’t bowl that well today, but they still created 11 chances and could have been batting again with a first-innings lead.

But some of the drops, particularly Ben Duckett‘s off Alex Carey while he was on 0, have been very costly because Carey is still batting.

But the worst two drops belonged to Jamie Smith from Travis Head while the opener was on three, and Brydon Carse, who put down a sitter off Jofra Archer‘s bowling to take Michael Neser.

And England didn’t participate in a warm-up pink-ball Test, leading to criticism over the preparation, and former star Steve Harmison couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

Speaking on talkSPORT’s Following On: Ashes Inquest podcast with Jon Norman, he said: “This is what Ashes cricket does to you.

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“Jamie Smith has got nought and dropped a catch, and it wasn’t a difficult chance.

“Ben Duckett got nought and dropped two catches.

“Brydon Carse dropped a catch after bowling 19 overs. I am not defending Brydon, but I can see it happening.

“But it comes with preparation and acclimitisation and it comes with having every possible situation that could go wrong covered.”

Surprise

One player Harmison wanted more from was Archer.

The England bowler should have had three wickets with two of the chances put down off his bowling.

But as the day went on, his speeds dropped and dropped to well below the 90mph that we know he can bowl at.

Maybe that is due to the lack of Test cricket he’s had over the last four years, but Harmy wants more from him after an excellent first innings in Perth.

Again on Following On, he remarked: “Archer looked down again. He didn’t look good on pace towards the end when you really need him.

“When you need your premier weapon to come at the end, he wasn’t there.

“And in Jofra’s last spell, he was bowling at 129kph [80mph] until he bowled two bouncers at Neser at 140kph [86mph], and then back to 129.”

Stokes’ disgust

After seeing Duckett drop Inglis, Stokes decided he wasn’t bringing himself out of the attack until he got his man.

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This saw him bowl over after over of back-breaking work in an attempt to remove the English-born Aussie.

At one point, he cramped up and was left in need of some treatment.

One of the solutions that is used is drinking pickle juice – prompting a repulsed reaction from Stokes.

As he took a sip, the disgust on his face was clear to see, but it worked because he soon clean bowled Inglis for what proved to be the final wicket of the day for England.

Stand up and be counted

After the first Test, Zak Crawley was under some serious pressure after scoring two ducks.

But he responded with a respectable 76, though, he’d be disappointed with how he got out.

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We already highlighted his new hairstyle yesterday, and today, Darren Gough went out of his way to heap praise on the opener.

Speaking on talkSPORT Breakfast with Alan Brazil and Ray Parlour, he said: “Fair play to Crawley. Can you imagine the pressure?

“He’s had to wait 12 days after getting a pair. Everyone is saying he should have went to Canberra and had a game there for the England Lions.

“But he’s turned up here and actually played really, really well. He could have got out early doors, but he stood up for his team.”

Frustration

After scoring a magnificent 138 not out at The Gabba to put England into a great position with his first century on Australian soil, Joe Root has watched his hard work fall by the wayside.

He even made history with the highest score in a pink-ball Test in Australia by a visiting player, while he matched Sir Ian Botham’s score at The Gabba from the 1986-87 series.

But there were signs he was getting annoyed in the field, especially with all of the runs that flew behind square to the fence.

And as a former Test captain, he had several discussions with Stokes, and Harmison could detect he was annoyed.

Speaking on Following On, he stated: “The camera panned onto Joe a couple of times, and you could see he was frustrated.

“He was getting frustrated when Stokes was getting cramp, and you could see he was basically saying, ‘get him off’.

“You could also see Joe getting frustrated standing at slip.

“I just think England didn’t look 100 per cent with it, which comes back to England being nowhere near prepared for this Test series, and it’s cost them.”