Opening batter Ben Duckett has praised Ollie Pope for overcoming all the critics by a century on Day 01 of the third test of the Sri Lanka tour of England 2024.
Ollie Pope was handling a lot of pressure as the side entered the final test of the series against Sri Lanka as he didn’t score much in the first two test matches. However, the 26-year-old smashed a ton and set a world record in test history to score seven centuries against seven different countries.
While speaking after Day 01 of the Final test, Ben Duckett said, “Everyone’s so happy for anyone’s success in this dressing room. It is an incredible place to be. There shouldn’t be but there has been lots of noise. He has had a better summer than I have and to block that out and score an incredible 100 was so good, you could see that from his emotions.”
Ollie Pope joined hands with Duckett and forged a 95-run partnership helping the side to reach 221 runs in 44.1 overs on the opening day.
“Most importantly for him, he came back to The Oval. I think when you are struggling for a bit of form or rhythm, come back home at a place where he bats so well. He averages 80 here, he is so good in these conditions. If he could have wished to bat anywhere today, even in these conditions, it would have been The Oval,” Broad elaborated.
“He is a high-quality player, plays beautiful shots, and when you are bowling at batters like him you have to get it right early. He was averaging seven and all the talk was about him. Now it won’t be,” he added.
England has already claimed a three-match series against Sri Lanka with the last game to spare.
Coming to the match, England was asked to bat first by the Sri Lanka captain Dhananjaya de Silva on a cloudy morning.
Daniel Lawrence departed with 5 runs in the 10th over, but Pope and Duckett continued to keep the scoreboard moving with their 95-run stand. Duckett was dismissed for 86 runs by Milan. Joe Root was dismissed for 13 runs to leave England on 191 runs.
Following his dismissal Pope scored 103* runs and Harry Brook took England with the score of 221/3 at The Oval.
