Ollie Pope senses a “real hunger” in England’s batting line-up this summer and believes the Test team could be capable of scoring 600 runs in a single day.
Confidence is riding high in the camp after back-to-back wins over the West Indies – an innings victory at Lord’s followed up by a 241-run success at Trent Bridge.
Pope was one of three centurions in Nottingham, followed by Joe Root and Harry Brook, as Ben Stokes’ side became the first English team in history to pass 400 in both innings of a Test match.
In December 2022, Pope was one of four players to reach three figures as England racked up 506-4 on the opening day of a Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi – just three short of the world record by a team in one day, despite facing just 75 overs.
Friday 26th July 10:00am
And the Test vice-captain believes the side have developed a new focus that could see them go even further into uncharted territory, given the right conditions.
“I think when Baz [head coach Brendon McCullum] and Stokesy took over, we were a batting unit with, not a lack of experience, but a lack of confidence at the time,” he said.
“I feel that everyone has kind of grown into their roles and now there’s a real hunger.
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Pope reflects on England’s strong start to their second Test against West Indies and dissects his superb performance that saw him reach a century
“There always is a hunger but now there’s an extra bit in that batting line-up where we feel like we can go on to do even better things. At the time it was about building confidence, now it’s about hopefully becoming more and more ruthless.
“Sometimes we might score 280-300 in a day but that’s okay and probably because we’re reading situations.
“We saw at Trent Bridge, when the lights were on and it started swinging more that was the time just to manage the game a little bit and that’s something we want to keep getting better and better at.
“But there might be a day where we go and get 500 or 600 at some point in the future as well. That’s a cool thing to have.”
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Arsenal and England goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale watches on during England’s second Test match against West Indies and discusses Ben Stokes talking to the England squad ahead of Euro 2024
England have not been shy about making big claims in the era of ‘Bazball’, though their momentum was checked when, after the drawn series against New Zealand and Australia last year, they lost 4-1 in India over the winter, prompting a bold revamp of the squad.
Out went record wicket-taker James Anderson, after playing in his farewell Test at Lord’s, 100-cap veteran Jonny Bairstow, wicketkeeper Ben Foakes and established No 1 spinner Jack Leach.
The transition to a younger core has been a positive one so far, with Gus Atkinson taking 12 wickets at Lord’s, Shoaib Bashir sealing the series with a five-wicket haul in the second Test and Jamie Smith making a bright start as a wicketkeeper-batter.
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Shoaib Bashir’s brilliant second innings five-for at Trent Bridge sealed a series victory for England over West Indies
“I think there were some big calls and some tough calls to make on guys, but it feels at the minute that we’ve got a really nice balanced attack and batting line-up as well,” said Pope.
“We want to give guys confidence and that we’re building the team around them, but at the same time, in international cricket there’s always going to be pressure for spots.
“It’s been shown in the last few weeks that the guys who have come in have done beautifully and we can keep building from here.
“I think winning can become a habit and the way we’ve gone about these two games is high class and that’s shown in the results so far.”
England’s Test series vs West Indies
Watch day one of the third Test between England and West Indies, from Edgbaston in Birmingham, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 10am on Friday (first ball to be bowled at 11am).
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