Two wins in two Tests as England’s deputising captain, a series win over Sri Lanka in the bag and heading to The Oval with the chance to complete a clean sweep of home Tests for the first time in 20 years. It should be pretty good to be Ollie Pope right about now.
What is more, that has all come on the back of a 3-0 series triumph against the West Indies where the 26-year-old was England’s second-highest run-scorer with 239 and was named player of the match after scores of 121 and 51 in the 241-run win at Trent Bridge.
Yet repeated failures with the bat in his four innings against Sri Lanka so far and questions of his use of DRS, which have seen all eight reviews in the series go against him, have led to criticism of Ben Stokes’ stand-in. Pope, however, insists he is taking it in his stride.
“Chatting to Stokesy before this series, when you’re captain, you’re going to attract a lot more attention and it’s just important to block it all out and stay close with the people around you,” Pope said.
“There are a lot of voices who want to have their say, a lot of past cricketers as well, and that’s fine and everyone is entitled to their opinion, but it’s important for me to keep trusting the people in the four walls because that’s going to help me get back into my best form.
“Sometimes when you have two bad games it can almost feel a lot worse than it is because of the noise which surrounds it. For me, it’s about trying to stay as level as I can, keep trusting the noise around it, put my work in and not really overthink it.
“When I went on my good runs in the West Indies series that’s what it was like, so there’s no need for me to get too involved in what people are saying.”
Pope’s struggles with the bat since being appointed as Stokes’ stand-in, after England’s Test skipper was ruled out of this series due to injury, were underlined by his dismissals in last week’s 190-run win at Lord’s where he was caught off two rash strokes.
It is not the first time the right-hander has gone through fallow periods in his 48 Tests either, but while he is focusing on improving his consistency at the start of an innings, he is philosophical about the ups and downs of cricket.
Neither is Pope blaming his poor record with the bat in the first two Tests against Sri Lanka on having the extra responsibility of captaincy.
“I’m not going to hide behind the fact I’ve had two poor games with the bat,” Pope said. “That’s the way cricket is sometimes.
“I think form comes and goes, but the best players are the ones who can draw a line under it and have a fresh start next week, and hopefully I can put a score together.
“I’m constantly trying to learn, and these last two games are learning games for me as well. It’s something I’m trying to improve in my game and the way I start my innings especially, then when I do get in, it’s trying to cash in as well.
“I think I managed my own game better throughout this match. Obviously, the runs didn’t show, but I’m not going to put that down that bad shot down to the fact I was captain this week.”
There could hardly be a better stage for Surrey batter Pope to return to form that on his home county ground of The Oval, where England bring the curtain down on their Test summer in the third contest against Sri Lanka, live on Sky Sports from Friday September 6.
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Eoin Morgan was impressed with England’s win over Sri Lanka at Lord’s and is excited with how the Test team are building
Victory would ensure England win all of their home Tests in one year for the first time since 2004 when they beat the West Indies 4-0 followed by overcoming New Zealand 3-0.
On that occasion, England completed the sweep with a stand-in captain as well, with now Test lead batting coach and white-ball interim head coach Marcus Trescothick filling in for the injured Michael Vaughan in the second and third Tests against New Zealand.
“I think it would be a pretty cool thing to look back on after a summer of six Tests, if we can win them all,” Pope said. “We’ll enjoy this one, draw a line and then go again at The Oval, but we’ve played some pretty good cricket throughout this summer.
“We had a tough winter away in India where the results weren’t what we wanted, so to get used to winning games back-to-back is really pleasing for us.
“It’s always special getting back to The Oval where I’ve played all of my county cricket and hopefully it will be a great crowd in.”
Watch the third and final Test of the series between England and Sri Lanka at The Oval, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 10am on Friday September 6 (first ball, 11am).
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