England batter Ollie Pope admits being dropped after a disastrous Ashes tour was the ‘right decision’. After averaging just 20.83, he aims to regain his spot by scoring ‘massive runs’ in the upcoming County Championship for Surrey.
England batter Ollie Pope, heading into the County Championship starting from April 3 after a disastrous Ashes tour to Australia, admitted that the decision to drop him after three poor Test matches was the right decision at that time.
Other than a Boxing Day Test win that ended England’s winless run in the Aussie land in Test cricket since their 2011 triumph, it was largely a disappointing Ashes series for England. The ‘Bazball’ approach to cricket under skipper Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum, prioritising positive, attacking and result-oriented cricket, backfired yet again as the duo continued to search for their first-series win against Australia and India, two of their biggest rivals, since joining forces.
Pope, England’s number three, was one of the biggest disappointments from the tour, scoring just 125 runs in six innings at an average of 20.83, with a best score of 46. His omission from the playing XI in the final two Tests paved way for a competitor of his number three slot, Jacob Bethell. The left-handed batter made a strong case as England’s new number three with a classy, lone warrior in the second innings of the Sydney Test, which gave England a 160-run lead and something to fight for. Bethell’s later exploits in the T20 World Cup, where he emerged as the team’s leading run-getter with 280 runs in eight innings at a strike rate of 152.17, including a remarkable 48-ball 105, which almost won England the semifinal against India at Mumbai while chasing 254 runs, are surely going to raise the youngster’s stock as an all-format top-order batter.
‘Too Eager to Put Bowlers Under Pressure’
For the first time since the 2022 summer, Pope will be starting off the County Championship while being out of the English Test side. Pope, while saying as quoted by ESPNCricinfo, attributed his poor run to his desire to attack and put bowlers under pressure early instead of any technical shortcomings. “I would not say there was a massive technical thing, I was probably just too eager to put the bowlers under pressure without necessarily realising it at the time. But when I look back and reflect on it, that is probably the mistake that I made,” he said.
“There are a couple of soft dismissals, probably in the second and third Test, where I look back, and I think that is pretty uncharacteristic for me for when I am playing well. You can process that, and that is logged now. Obviously, it is disappointing to experience that on the highest level when you want it the most,” he added.
Path to Redemption
Pope pointed out that his conversations with the team’s top brass, including coach McCullum and managing director Rob Key, were “pretty good” and helped Pope realise “where he stood”. Now he says it is on him to go back and score some massive runs in county cricket and become the “best batter in the country”.
“Getting dropped is tough. I did not want to get dropped of course, but it was the right decision at the time,” he said. “I just wanted to have an open conversation with Brendon McCullum and then had a call with Rob Key just to see. I know things change between now and the start of the summer, but for me the chats were just ‘go back, score loads of runs’. If I am not in that XI, can I make sure I am the best batter in the country? I can take my game to another level, and make sure if something happens, it is making sure I am the man to come in,” he added.
It has been from the start of the McCullum-Stokes regime that Pope started to bat at number three for England in Tests. His poor run in the recent past has witnessed his average dropping to 39.59 at number three, having made his eight of his nine Test tons and eight fifties in 63 innings at that spot. His struggles with the bat also led to him losing the vice-captaincy to Harry Brook, the white-ball captain of England, at the end of the summer.
Focus on County Cricket
During the County Championship starting from April 3 against Warwickshire, Pope could shift down to number four for Surrey, alongside England teammate Jamie Smith in the middle-order. The right-hander is not sure what the future holds for him as far as his batting spot is concerned, but feels his “best batting years are to come”.
“I still feel I can become a better player to bat at number three if something were to happen. But we will see how the next few weeks pan out and go into the season,” he said.
“My summer, I’m not 100 per cent sure what it looks like going forward. We’ve got a block of seven games for Surrey in the Championship, so I just want to make sure my game keeps improving, my game keeps developing, for if and when the England stuff comes around again.”
“It is different when you are not constantly playing in the Test matches. To have a block like this, I can go back to what really works well for me and make sure my game is in as good a place as it can be.”
“I have played a lot of Test cricket now. Sixty-four Tests, I still feel like my best batting years are to come. That, for me, is to make sure I make the most of the experiences that I have had, as well as this time to kick on now,” he concluded. (ANI)
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