England's sloppy fielders have found an unlikely ally in Australian opener Jake Weatherald, who defended his Ashes rivals after an evening of dropped catches at the Gabba.

The tourists spilt five catches on day two of the day-night Test, but four of those came in the final session as the pink ball became harder to see under lights.

Jamie Smith had put Weatherald's opening partner Travis Head (33) down when he'd scored just three early in the day, before Ben Duckett dropped a sitter when Alex Carey gloved to gully before he'd scored.

Carey went to stumps unbeaten on 46 as Australia (6-378) led England (334) by 44 runs in the second Test of the series.

Duckett would have rued his second spill a little less; he dropped Josh Inglis (23) in the slips but the new inclusion added only two more before Ben Stokes bowled him.

Brydon Carse also put Michael Neser down at cover before the paceman went to stumps unbeaten on 15, and Joe Root fumbled Carey aground to make it five drops for the day.

The misses have left England to wonder what could have been as they fight to level the Ashes series against the day-night masters.

But Weatherald defended the tourists, having also found it difficult to see the pink ball when he'd been fielding on day one in his first day-night Test.

"It was definitely difficult," said Weatherald, who top-scored for Australia with 72 runs.

"We were probably lucky that we didn't get as many square catches of the wicket as them.

"I feel for them, I understand how hard it is out there, especially when they're hitting it hard when there gets a bit of dew on the wicket as well, it comes flying at you. It's not great visuals."

England's batting order fielded criticism for skipping out on a day-night tour match in Canberra to head straight to Brisbane after the first-Test loss.

But the upshot of the decision was five days of training as a squad, much of it under lights.

Veteran batter Joe Root said the fielding mishaps weren't from lack of preparation.

"We worked as hard as we could in the lead-up," he said.

"You can't replicate that surface and the bounce and the way the nicks come. It's never going to be exactly the same, you're never going to be able to get it perfect.

"All you can do is give yourself the best possible chance and I think that we've done that.

"Unfortunately, we're not perfect, we're all human. We're going to make mistakes, it's how we respond. That's all we can do."