England started with a bang in the Sri Lanka series, first match at Manchester England registered a comprehensive win under Ollie Pope’s captaincy. Ollie Pope hasn’t been able to dictate the terms with the bat in hand and it won’t be wrong to say that the added pressure of leading the Test team has affected his natural attacking game.
Hosts continued their domination in the second test too, Joe Root smashed his 33rd test century at Lords on the very first day itself and kept hosts in the driving seat. England are missing on the services of Ben Stokes & Mark Wood who are nursing injuries and their side looks quite fragile as Bairstow has been dropped over a string of low scores.
Nasser Hussain advises Ollie Pope’s failures
Interim captain Ollie Pope was not in good touch with the bat in the first test he lost his wicket without scoring many runs, and now in the second test, he scored just 1 run. Ollie Pope’s leaning patch continued since he was appointed as captain. Earlier he used to play with balanced intent and score runs but now in the last three innings, he wasn’t at his best and has issues taking a proper start. Former England skipper Naseer Hussain advises Ollie Pope why he fails to take a proper start. Naseer Hussain said:
“At the moment, there’s still a bit of bluff from Pope when it comes to batting, and I don’t mean that in a negative way. Someone like Kevin Pietersen had a natural strut and swagger and wanted to put bowlers under pressure, but Pope is not really like that,” Nasser Hussain wrote in his column for the Daily Mail.
“He’s more like the emerging Ian Bell before he and Pietersen formed that middle-order bond – a nervy, fidgety figure at the crease. Someone lacking the belief someone with his ability should possess. Pope is still in that stage of trying to convince everyone with the projection of his personality. Look at his first-class record, it’s utterly brilliant, but his fidgety starts are an issue,” Hussain added.
“Pope’s issue is that he is a poor starter. I don’t recall Joe Root looking frenetic at the beginning of an innings, even when he was captain, and he was often coming in at 20 for two. The most important thing, he told me, was getting runs, because everything flows from that. Every decision you make seems easier when you’re contributing with the bat. Remember, that is his number one job. It’s why he’s on the side and No. 3 is a pivotal position,” Hussain added in his column.
Can Ollie Pope make a solid comeback after his leaning patch in 2nd test’s second innings? Or does the purple patch continue?