The batter Ollie Pope regrets not making the start of the test series in England’s tour of India earlier this year as he missed the big numbers like Yashasvi Jaiswal did for India. The right-handed batter started the series with a brilliant 196 knock in the second innings helping the side to secure a 28-run win.
But, Pope’s lone 50+ score in the series as he scored only 119 runs in the other nine innings at an average of under 14. Meanwhile, Jaiswlai was the batting start of the five-match series, amassing 712 runs with an average of 89 with two centuries and three half-centuries.
“We felt like there was quite a negative sort of narrative on the team after India, but we always knew winning out there is the biggest challenge in cricket. When I hit that 196, I was like ‘Right, I am going to go and have a big series. Like Yashasvi Jaiswal had, trying to score as many as possible. But I probably didn’t adapt my game quickly enough to the conditions that were in front of me rather than just the conditions of the first Test.”
“That was a frustration, because when you go into a five-match series, you’ve got a chance to play yourself into form but you can play yourself out of form too, and in 10 innings in India that’s exactly what happened. I felt good a couple of times, got myself in, and if I’d kicked on and made one of those innings an 80 and a couple of them 50 it’s completely different. That’s the frustrating thing for me – I’m not so annoyed with the low scores, it’s more when I get myself in and don’t kick on.”
Ollie Pope believes it’s his job to make things easier for skipper Ben Stokes and hailed the latter for his ability to listen to the player’s opinions.
Stokes was named as test skipper in 2022 and has helped the side to win 17 out of 26 games.
“You wouldn’t always think it, but he’s good at listening to everyone’s opinions. The reason I’m in my role is because I want to be able to challenge him when I see something that I don’t think is quite right, and he wants me to challenge him too, rather than just agreeing with everything he says. My job as a vice-captain is to make his job a little bit easier rather than be a headache for him,” said Pope.
England’s next assignment in the three-Test home series against Sri Lanka starts on August 21 at Old Trafford Cricket Ground.
