To be clear, this is a very specific, short-term debate which reflects less on Ollie Pope than a unique set of circumstances. Nevertheless, should Ben Stokes be able to play in the second Test in Multan, England will be loathe to risk over-bowling him. On Multan’s lifeless surface, retaining five front-line bowlers seems essential. This logic would point to Stokes, if he is only fit to play as a batsman, slotting in for one of the top six and Ollie Pope might face the axe considering his performances with the bat.
From stand-in England captain to out of the team. This was Mark Butcher’s fate 25 years ago: filling in for Nasser Hussain against New Zealand at Old Trafford, he made five and nine and was discarded for the next Test. The episode embodied much of the worst of English cricket in the 1990s, the age before central contracts. Thankfully, there will be no going back to such instability. Yet England might now face the same question that they did in 1999: could the return of the captain Ben Stoke endanger the stand-in’s Ollie Pope’s position in the side.
Ollie Pope’s dip in form as a batter for England
Despite captaining in the last four Tests, Ollie Pope finds himself in the curious position of being England’s most dispensable batsman. This status reflects the middle-order brilliance of Joe Root and Harry Brook, and how Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett have become England’s most reliable opening pair since Sir Alastair Cook and Sir Andrew Strauss.
Here, then, is a possible situation in which England consider omitting Ollie Pope. With Stokes back but as a specialist batsman only, Crawley and Duckett would open, with a middle order of Root, Brook and Stokes.
Given the choice, perhaps none of the trio would choose to bat at No3. Yet Root’s 262 in the first Test came from one wicket down, and when walking out to bat in the second over. On such placid pitches, batting positions matter less. In Pakistan in recent years, abandoning convention has been England’s friend – from using Ollie Pope himself as wicketkeeper in 2022, to depriving James Anderson of the new ball and making Rehan Ahmed their youngest ever Test cricketer.
Ollie Pope is fresh from his best Test as captain and an essential part of England’s future. He has been selected for every Test under Brendon McCullum in which he has been fit. It is also only a Test since he scored 154. Yet while all these things are true, Ollie Pope’s average remains middling – 34.7 after 50 Tests, which decreases to 28.8 in 11 games since his extraordinary 196 in Hyderabad. In the same period, Duckett, Crawley, Root, Brook and Jamie Smith all average at least nine runs more.
Ollie Pope’s difficulties in part reflect his willingness to bat at three, higher than he had previously batted in first-class cricket; after Duckett’s injury in Multan, he selflessly promoted himself to open. Still, an enduring truth about his Test career remains. Ollie Pope’s brilliance when he gets himself in is not in doubt; his method early in his innings is. All Test batsmen are susceptible when fresh to the crease, but Ollie Pope is especially vulnerable.
A second-ball duck extended Ollie Pope’s travails when starting his innings. He is dismissed within his first 20 balls in 38 per cent of Test innings: the worst figure in history for anyone to bat in England’s top six for at least 35 innings. Taking only batting into consideration, and ignoring his status as vice-captain, there is a short-term case for Ollie Pope shuffling out the side to accommodate Stokes. It would be harsh; leaving out any of Duckett, Crawley, Root, Brook and Smith would be even harsher.
The scenario remains unlikely. Instead, Stokes’ return might well be delayed until at least the third Test, when he is fully fit to play as an all-rounder – slotting back in at No6, with one of the bowling attack missing out. Squeezing out Ollie Pope, even for tactical reasons for a solitary game, would be out of kilter with England’s ethos under McCullum. Former English skipper Nasser Hussain feels the same as Ben Stoke’s return could be at one man’s stake ie : the standing skipper Ollie Pope due to his continuous poor form vs Pakistan in 2 tests
Nasser Hussain points out Ollie Pope’s inconsistencies in Test cricket post loss in 2nd test
Ex-England skipper Nasser Hussain has called for Ollie Pope to improve his consistency, claiming that his form remains concerning for the national team. Hussain observed that Pope scores plenty of runs or fails altogether in any given innings.
While the Surrey batter has scored three Test centuries this year, including a best of 196 against India in Hyderabad, the right-hander has managed only one fifty in between those and the remaining have been low scores. The first Test against Pakistan in Multan saw him perish for a duck on an excellent batting strip, while he made scores of 29 and 22 in the second game of the series.
“His form is a concern for England. He continues to be a bit feast or famine. It was only two games ago he got a magnificent hundred at The Oval, but before that, he didn’t get many runs. Either side of his big scores, there are a lot of low scores, so he needs to find a consistency to his game.”
Pope was also dismissed twice by Sajid Khan in the second Test, who wrecked England’s batting unit with seven wickets in the first innings and added two more to his total in the second.
“There is no reason for England to press the panic button” – Nasser Hussain
Although Hussain believes the toss became vital in the second Test, he reckons England could still be disappointed due to their approach against spin. Hence, he thinks Ben Stokes and co. have a lot to work to do when it comes to playing spin. He wrote:
“There is no reason for England to press the panic button. When you are playing on a pitch that has been used for five days, the toss becomes absolutely vital – and it was a bad one for England to lose. As you can see with the diminishing scores throughout the Test match, every innings it started to spin more and batting got harder. But England won’t make excuses and they will still be disappointed.
“The hosts may not get quite as extreme conditions as this in the deciding Test in Rawalpindi, which has historically been a flat pitch. It was about as tough as it gets for England on what was effectively a day-nine pitch. But there is still plenty to work on in England’s batting department in these conditions.”
With the 152-run in the second Test, Pakistan also broke their losing streak at home, which stretches back to February 2021. The third and final Test against Pakistan begins on October 24 in Rawalpindi.