Pope rues Stokes’ first innings dismissal as he reflects on ‘missed opportunity’

Ollie Pope accepts England let a chance slip through their fingers on the first day of the second Test against South Africa, with Ben Stokes’ tame dismissal the catalyst.

England chose to bat first on a decent surface as they chased a series-levelling win in Cape Town, but reached stumps on a modest of 262 for nine.

Pope, pictured, was the unbeaten top scorer on 56 not out and the tourists were never better positioned than when he and Stokes took the score to 184 for four with a handy partnership of 58.

Stokes, who struck a careerbest258onhislasttestappearance at Newlands, was well set on 47 when an uncharacteristically reticent drive picked out Dean Elgar at cover.

“It’s definitely a missed opportunity,” said Pope. “I’m sure Stokesy is pretty frustrated as well. He’ll be as annoyed as anyone.

“He was playing the aggressor role and I was just getting into my innings and finding my way, so it was a shame.”

England’s problems were not entirely of their own making, the Proteas’ five-man attack complementing each other expertly once again, but there will be considerable frustration that so many batsmen gave away solid starts.

Among the top seven, only rookie opener Zak Crawley fell cheaply, expertly unpicked by Vernon Philander for four in only his second international innings. All of the rest made at least 29, with only Pope reaching a half-century. “When you get out in the 30s you’ve done the hard work. The hardest bit of batting is getting there,” said Pope.

“When you get out at 30 it’s the most frustrating thing but whether that was the wicket or the way we played we’ll find out tomorrow. It’s a good wicket but there’s definitely a little bit in it for the seamers, even with the old ball. Hopefully we can expose whatever there is in there.”

South Africa all-rounder Dwaine Pretorius, who played his supporting role to a tee by having Jos Buttler caught behind and bowling Sam Curran as he offered no stroke, had a different take.

Assessing England’s efforts with the bat, he said: “At least 350 would be a par score. They’re at least 70 runs short on a wicket like that.

“I think a lot of their guys got in and got out at the wrong times, in the 30s. It was a really good day for us, so we’ll run with that.

“We’re coming back tomorrow and we’d like to finish it up quite early.” batsmen at present, and Labuschagne and Smith set about extending New Zealand’s woes in this dead-rubber last Test of the series, which Australia lead 2-0.

The pair put on 156 for the third wicket, advancing Australia’s cause from soon before lunch to deep into the last session, when Smith’s 182-ball innings was ended by the new ball through a slips catch off De Grandhomme.

Labuschagne and Matthew Wade (22) will resume on day two.

New Zealand’s cause was not helped by the loss of captain Kane Williamson, batsman Henry Nicholls and all-rounder Mitchell Santner due to a flu bug which swept through the squad before the match.