Pope may be the cure for an English ailment
MUMBAI: All talk through this series has revolved around the lack of depth in England’s batting. How there is Joe Root and little else. Ollie Pope’s innings on Friday went someway in filling that void, not only to give England hope in this match and the series but also for their future.
Pope was the 10th batter to be trialed in the top 6 by England in this series. While Root has been exquisite so far totalling 528 runs on one challenging surface after another, every other English batter barring Dawid Malan has looked vulnerable. It’s also one of the reasons why India have been able to gamble with four attacking seam bowlers at Ravichandran Ashwin’s expense.
Not on Day 2 at The Oval though. After India had reduced England to 62/5 early, Pope launched a counter-attack with Jonny Bairstow. At one stage in the second half of the morning session, the duo added 40 runs in four overs. Pope punished the 31st over bowled by Shardul Thakur taking him for three boundaries—two caressed on-drives and a pull.
Rediscovering a player
In Pope, England have also rediscovered a player who can score aggressively while sticking to conventional long-form batting. For far too long have England been forced to shoehorn white-ball cricketers as Test batters.
Pope is as old fashioned as Test batting can get—short stature, high elbow, organised back and across set up. He looked a far more confident player from the one India first saw in 2018 when, as a 20-year-old, he was fighting the curse of being labelled as the next big thing with eerie similarities to Ian Bell.
Except for Jasprit Bumrah whose length he occasionally failed to read; Pope looked in complete control. His flurry of boundaries at the start was the catalyst to what turned into a beautifully paced Test innings. He was able to force Indian bowlers to bowl fuller lengths. And so beautifully did he drive that Pope encountered no speed-breakers.
It may have worked in Pope’s favour that despite coming late in the series, unlike some of his teammates, he didn’t come straight from 100-ball cricket. He lost his place after the New Zealand series earlier in the year, but with two double-hundreds and an average of 203 in first-class cricket at The Oval since August 2019 to his name, there was no doubt he could bat big.
By the time Bairstow was dismissed, their sixth wicket partnership had already produced 89 runs, the highest in the match so far. Pope then guided England past India’s first innings total during a 71-runs partnership with Moeen Ali.
On the comeback trail, playing at his home ground in the 20th Test of his career, the babyfaced Pope played a mature hand to thwart India’s ambitions of running away with the Test.
The Barmy Army chorus and trumpet sounds grew louder as the day went by in anticipation of his hundred. A mental error close to the second new ball meant that wasn’t to be. But by the time Pope was finally dismissed on 81, chopping back a gentle wide away swinger from Thakur, he had won the first innings battle for England.