One glance at the scorecard for the ongoing third Test between England and India at Trent Bridge is enough to confirm that the visitors have been the superior team so far, despite coming into it 2-0 down in the five-game series.
It can be attributed in the main to England’s batsmen crumbling against a fine pace attack for just 161 in the first innings. But, plenty of dropped chances in the slip cordon did the home team no good either. After another day of several missed catches, Farbrace minced no words.
“We think we’ve caught some good catches but we can’t keep shelling chances the way that we are and that comes down to two things, that’s either concentration not being good enough, or in terms of confidence, when you start to miss chances, that starts to eat away,” said Farbrace after the third day’s play.
England have let go 15 catches in the series so far, including six in the ongoing game. Even though India piled on 352/7 in their second innings before declaring to set England a massive target of 521, Farbrace praised the England bowlers for sticking to their guns despite the situation.
“The one great thing about today is that our bowlers stuck at their jobs really well. It was a tough day yesterday, and I think our bowlers did well to stick to their jobs today. We kept plugging away and working very hard. When bowlers create opportunities and catches are being dropped, that must be soul-destroying,” he remarked.
“Nobody means to drop chances, of course they don’t, but it is becoming too regular. (Catching) is like any other aspect of the game. When it comes under pressure in a game situation, that’s when you want the technique and hard work to stand out.
“There’s no excuses, there’s no hiding places. It simply hasn’t been good enough but we’ve been saying that for too long and we’ve changed people in there, but there’s only so many people you can put in there.”
