Among the many talking points going into the Ashes was the fact that England had chosen not to play a single first class match in Australia in order to acclimatise to the conditions. England have ended up being wiped out in the first two Tests and are trailing 2-0 going into the third. Former Australia captain Michael Clarke has said that the number of catches that England were dropping, particularly in the second Test, showed that they needed more preparation going into the series.

“When you’re dropping catches, that’s concentration. Heavy legs on the bowlers, bowling your second or third spell … that’s time on your feet in the field,” he said on Code Sports. While Joe Root’s century had put England in a fairly strong position on Day 1 of the pink-ball Test, they dropped as many as five

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