Nathan Lyon says Australia are not living up to their usual high fielding standards as their fifth dropped catch in the slips cordon this summer allowed the West Indies' best batsman, Darren Bravo, to be on the cusp of his first century against Australia. 
Lyon took a dazzling return catch to remove Marlon Samuels as one of three wickets in his first seven overs, as the West Indies slumped to 6-116 in pursuit of Australia's 4-583 at Blundstone Arena. "I was lucky enough to hang on to it. I was pretty happy with it," the off-spinner said. Australia's were unable to strike in the final 25 overs of the day as Bravo (94 not out) and Kemar Roach (31 not out) took them to 6-207 at stumps on day two. Bravo was given a life on 74 when neither Adam Voges at first slip nor Steve Smith at second slip decisively attacked a chance that went between them, from an edge produced by Josh Hazlewood. Had it been taken the West Indies would have been 7-164, with only tailenders to survive the last 12 overs of the day. "We're working hard on our fielding. I know it probably hasn't been up to scratch, to what the Australian standard is," Lyon said. "They [Voges and Smith] just didn't pick it up. It happens. There's black sports around this ground, it's pretty difficult to field with the green and black spots. But I'm not making excuses. It should have been taken.
"It's not the Australian standard ... but we're training quite efficiently and working really hard on our skillset. We just need to keep doing that at training." Lyon ruled out a lack of preparation as a cause of recent uncharacteristic mistakes in the field. "I'm not going to blame anyone who drops a catch ... because I know we're doing the work behind the scenes," he said.