Ashes | Twitter shook as careless Jacks singlehandedly ruins Stokes' genius to hand invincible Head reprieve

Today at 6:04 AM

A captain is only as good as his team goes the age old adage in cricket. For Ben Stokes, it does not spell good news given some of the atrocious mishaps England have made in the Ashes, and Will Jacks added to the list at the SCG on Day 3 with a shocking drop to afford Travis Head another life.

Will Jacks dropped a pie on Day 3 of the fifth Ashes Test at the SCG to let Travis Head walk away scot-free

Australia survived a testing spell from the English quicks early on Day 3 to build on their overnight score of 166/2 through Travis Head and nightwatchman Michael Neser through the first hour and half of play without losing a wicket. The former brought up his third ton of the series in double quick time and looked at his resplendent best doing so, flaying shots in trademark dismissive fashion while his willow's edge refused to meet the ball everytime he faced severe seam movement. By the 47th over, the stand had grown over 40 with Head doing the bulk of the scoring as he ticked past 120, forcing Ben Stokes to think differently. The English skipper carried out his task to perfection, but once again his charges let him down and allowed Australia to seize mental momentum.

Brydon Carse had the ball in hand and found Head on strike on the third ball, leading to an elongated discussion with skipper Stokes on how to approach bowling to the in-form opener. Ultimately, the duo decided upon the classic bumper plan and Stokes meticulously placed his men on the leg-side boundary, making sure to cover the largest area possible while focusing on Head's horspots. Carse carried out his task dilligently to produce a sharp bumper first up but not in a mood to back down, Head unsurprisingly went hard at it. However, a lack of proper connection meant Jacks at the midwicket fence was in play and as the ball descended down his throat a routine take looked inevitable. Yet, in a moment of horror, Jacks took his eyes off the red cherry at the very last moment to check where he stood in respect to the boundary ropes, his stance betraying a lack of clarity on how close he was to it. The Kookaburra hit his palms and popped right back out, leading to a large collective sigh from the Barmy Army while loud cheers rang around Sydney to commemorate their hero of the series earning another life.

Jacks could not believe the blunder he'd just committed even as a couple of his teammates walked up in the following deliveries to get his head back in the game, but Twitterati was not as kind.

Second Life

Travis Head looked to be a goner, but Will Jacks gave him a life with this drop on the boundary.
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau)

Butter Fingers

Will Jacks
— AnneeJay 🦢🦢🦢 (@cignicigni)

Costly Blunder

Will Jacks
— Wayne Pasterfield (@wpasterfield)

Epic Fail

Will Jacks with an laughable bad catch
— Jake (@Jake36310674374)

Catching Woes

Total shocker from Will Jacks there. One of the massive gulfs in this series has been the quality of catching. The Aussies have taken worldies and England have dropped sitters. Painful.
— Martin McEwan (@McEwanMartin)

Simply Painful

Will Jacks should be removing himself off the pitch for that.

Disgraceful at this level
— Christian (@Christianjw92)

oH!

Will jacks needs to retire from cricket tonight
— Nacho (@Nacho60363774)

Surrey Flops

Jaime Smith and Will Jacks are two of my Surrey boys that I would drop from the England setup in a heartbeat.
— James Domenico Grabban (@JamesGrabban)

Dropped!