NASSER HUSSAIN: Dropping catches is like a virus and it’s continuing to hurt England

When you get to a ground like Headingley the only thing you need to get right is your slip cordon and your catch behind the wicket as historically wickets fall in that region.

Think back to the 2009 Ashes when there was all this confusion over whether Matt Prior would play and nine England dismissals fell that way on opening day.

The general rule in Leeds is to throw the ball up. Yes, it’s a bit of risk and reward because the attack fields you set mean there are gaps in the field for opponents to exploit.

But the reward is you get your snicks, so I felt for Chris Woakes, who eventually got three wickets on his comeback and bowled beautifully, and even for Mark Wood, despite taking his first five-wicket test in England.

Twice Woakes had chances to do exactly what captain Ben Stokes asked for, hit a full length and find the perimeter.

Joe Root dropped a simple catch to dismiss Mitchell Marsh shortly after joining the crease, and the Australian all-rounder went on to score an impressive century of 118 from 118 deliveries

Without Marsh’s century, Australia would have been thrown out for considerably less than 268

The deferment of centurion Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head cost England about 138 runs.

I see England working hard, but I think these two and a half games so far represent the worst start to a series for them in six years – that’s 14 drops and a missed stumping for good measure.

All I can say is that there is no specific technical reason that I can decipher. Perhaps Jonny Bairstow is a little undercooked after the injury and his footwork behind the stumps isn’t as nimble as someone like Alex Carey.

Dropping catches is also like a virus. A thing of trust. One goes down and your hands stiffen.

The best slip field players I played with in Mark Waugh and Nick Knight looked like they were catching an egg, their hands were so soft.

Root later dropped another catch in the slips – this time No. 5 Aussie put down Travis Head

It was a frustrating day for England bowler Chris Woakes who, despite three important wickets on the first day, would have had more with a better catch in the slip cordon.

But the moment one or two go down it’s almost like you don’t want the ball to come to you and if you’re a little tense the ball can bounce off them.

Actually, I kind of liked Joe Root’s reaction when Stokes, after catching Travis Head, went up to him and said, ‘good, you finally caught one.’ In response, Root went ballistic as if to say “don’t skip it, it’s not good enough.” Root knows how to win the Ashes you need to get that spot.

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Basically what makes me go through the whole Bazball chat is that it’s the little details that let England down, but that’s not the story that gets across.

When England wins it’s all brilliant and thanks to Bazball. Lose, and that’s because Bazball doesn’t work.

When it’s really the basics of the game where they’ve fallen short: no bowlers who are fit at the right time, batters who aren’t ruthless when downing their opponents, taking wickets from no-balls and fielders who miss catches.

One eventually stuck for the former England captain, who used his body to cushion Head’s thick rim

Root reacted to Head’s dismissal by throwing the ball to the ground – still angry at his drops earlier in the day – and turned to his teammates with a disgruntled expression on his face.

In the end it took Woakes and Wood to dig deep, put the drops behind them and combine both sides of the tea to turn it over.

Joe Root came up to me before play yesterday morning and said, “Jeez, Nass, Wood is going bowling fast. We’ll have to stand a long way back.’

However, what made the difference for him yesterday was swing, because when you’re bowling 95 mph and it’s moving through the air, it gets seriously tough on the hitters.

Get the ball that knocked out Mitchell Starc. I don’t care if it was Starc or David Warner – that’s what gets a lot of left-handers out there swinging in at that rate.

Of Bairstow’s two drops, the one to his left to give Steve Smith a reprieve from Ollie Robinson was a tough one.

The one to his right, at Wood’s bowling, less so because he’s come to know that Travis Head plays down the leg side of his body.

It’s how Head looked in the World Test Championship final and England have been targeting him with short things ever since.

Even if it means doing what Carey did in the last game at Lord’s to take the second innings catch that sent off Ben Duckett – standing a little to one side expecting the ball to go that way – so be it .

The ball that headed that way was the most obvious. Bairstow had to think, ‘I’m going to the right here, he’s going to do it down the leg side.’

Bairstow’s glove work was questionable this series and he missed another opportunity today

It will be Root and Bairstow in the crease to start day two, with England 68-3 at Headingley

Kumar Sangakkara talks about what edge a wicket-keeper thinks of because they can’t always cover both edges and so you have to think about the predominant one.

Holding Shane Warne against the right-hander, it’s the outside edge. Jimmy Anderson bowls a huge swing to a right-hander, your perimeter is back in play, so you need to make sure you cover it. if he cuts it off inside you may have to get a screamer.

For head to Wood just before lunch, when Stokes has called on him to say ‘come to his ribs’, the most likely outcome is to the right, either inner rim or glove, where his hands move away from his body.

You could tell from his reaction that 99 times out of 100, Jonny would expect him to catch that.

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