Ashes 2021-22: Former Australia wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist has reacted to England’s Jos Buttler dropping a sitter to give Marnus Labuschagne a third lifeline on opening day of the second Ashes 2021-22 Test on Thursday. Follow Ashes 2021-22 Live on InsideSport.IN.
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Ashes 2021-22: Adam Gilchrist ‘sick in stomach’ over Jos Buttler’s dropped catch but says ‘no sympathy for English cricketer’
The incident happened in the 85th over when the Australia batter got a thick edge off James Anderson before wicketkeeper Buttler dropped a dolly – second time time after taking a stunner earlier in the day to send Marcus Harris packing.
An absolute sitter hits the deck as Labuschagne gets another life #Ashes pic.twitter.com/QI3bDaIRRO
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 16, 2021
The 31-year-old is facing criticism from all quarters after a horrid outing with the gloves in Adelaide. Gilchrist has called Buttler a “nice guy” before slamming him for being “sleepy and lazy” behind the stumps.
“He’s such a nice guy, but at the end of the day he is an English cricketer so you can’t have too much sympathy. I’ve been there, done that,” Gilchrist told SEN.
“As we all know, he took an absolute screamer earlier on to get rid of Marcus Harris, one of the great wicketkeeping catches. Then spilt a challenging one, but a slightly easier one of Labuschagne when he was on 21.
“But that one late in the evening, I can only put it down to concentration.”
Gilchrist, the wicketkeeper with second most catches (379) in Test cricket, also took shot at English technique with the gloves, calling it ineffective in Australian conditions.
“I don’t want to get too technical about the English keeping styles and techniques, but I don’t think they’ve ever really suited Australian conditions,” he said.
“They have a fairly lazy style and technique in compared to what we try and teach our youngsters… about foot movement and trying to access the ball.
“Whatever his technique was it worked well in that first catch of the day, so I think it’s more just concentration.
“A long, challenging day. It was pretty slow going cricket. It wasn’t the most entertaining stuff. I am sure there was a few fans in the stands that were asleep so maybe Jos was a little bit sleepy too. He can’t have been fully focused prior to that delivery,” he added.
Further, Matt Prior has also joined the bandwagon and questioned Jos Buttler’s footwork. The former England wicketkeeper has reckoned that Buttler lacked energy and looked “stuck”
“But with the first drop he got stuck. He didn’t get a big enough step in and then he wasn’t able to go again. He threw his hands at the ball because he’d only covered half the ground of the first catch. Then for the second drop he got stuck again. Everyone thinks it’s the hands that get you the catch. It’s not, it’s your footwork and your hands follow,” Prior told BT Sport.
“It just looked like his energy levels were down. At the start there would have been a hop and a skip across. As a keeper you want to dive as little as possible. You get that one chance and that’s what you’re judged on,” explained Prior, who played 79 Tests for England, added.
Marnus Labuschagne made maximum use of the lifelines given by England and slammed his first Ashes hundred on Friday.
💯#Ashes pic.twitter.com/7E7HDeKRkL
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 17, 2021
The South Africa-born got another lifeline when Jos Buttler took a catch off Olie Robinson but the delivery was deemed a no-ball. However, England finally got lucky after Robinson trapped the 27-year-old for 103 off 305 in the subsequent over.
Ashes 2021-22: Adam Gilchrist ‘sick in stomach’ over Jos Buttler’s dropped catch but says ‘no sympathy for English cricketer’
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