Ashes 2013-14: David Warner critical of 'poor and weak' Trott

David Warner has described Jonathan Trott as "poor and weak" and claims England's batsmen have "scared eyes" after the tourists endured another torrid day in Brisbane.

England were 24-2 at the close of day three, having been set 561 to win.

"England are on the back foot," said Warner, who scored a second-innings century. "It does look like they've got scared eyes at the moment.

"The way that Trotty got out today was pretty poor and weak."

Trott, who scored an unconvincing 10 in the first innings, played another frenetic knock - opting to be aggressive against fiery left-arm paceman Mitchell Johnson.

Continually walking across his stumps, Trott's torturous innings was ended when he clipped one straight to Nathan Lyon at backward square leg for just nine runs.

"Obviously there's a weakness there and we're on top of it at the moment," added Warner, whose eye-catching 124, together with skipper Michael Clarke's century, helped the Australians rack up 401-7 declared in their second innings.

"He's probably worked hard in the nets on the short ball, but trying to face 90mph short balls from Mitchell Johnson - the way to go is probably not trying to back away.

"I think he's [Trott] got to get new sledges as well because it's not working for him at the moment."

Warwickshire batsman Trott, 32, has been one of England's most reliable batsmen since marking his debut with a century in the final Test of the 2009 Ashes series.

Since then, he has been a mainstay in the England line-up with 3,763 runs at an average of 46.45.

However, former England captain Michael Vaughan believes Trott now faces the toughest test of his career as he tries to reverse a poor run of form - and a perceived weakness against genuine pace bowlers.

"Jonathan Trott's innings was as bad as any I have seen from an England number three," said Vaughan. "For the first time in his career, there is a big question mark next to his name. The short-ball syndrome is the worst you could possibly have as a batsman."

However, England fast bowler James Anderson defended Trott and believes the South Africa-born player can bounce back.

"A guy like that doesn't average 50 in Test cricket because he can't play the short ball," Anderson said.

"He's going through a difficult period and we know that he's got a lot of character and a lot of skill and enough to come out the other end."

Lancashire's Anderson, who has match figures of 2-140, also says England have to show the necessary character as they try to salvage an unlikely draw from the match.

"We are in a tricky position," Anderson said. "We have to show a lot of fight and character, which we know we have got.

"After yesterday's performance with the bat we were always going to struggle creating pressure with the ball when they are in such a good position.

"There's not much pressure on their batsmen when they have a lead of 150 runs to start with. I thought we fought really well with the ball. We created chances and got wickets at certain times but obviously we are disappointed to lose those two wickets at the end."

Listen to Jonathan Agnew and Geoff Boycott's review of the day on the TMS podcast page.

Catch up with a two-minute summary of Test Match Special commentary with Pint-sized Ashes.

For a gallery of images from the third day's play go to the BBC Sport Facebook page.