Ollie Pope gave an apt reply to Michael Vaughan who criticized him and his captaincy in the ongoing Sri Lanka Test series. Pope’s first outing as England Test captain has started auspiciously as the hosts took a 2-0 lead in the three-Test series against Sri Lanka at home. England won the second Test at Lord’s by 190 runs.
Pope was named England captain for this series after Ben Stokes suffered a torn hamstring during the Hundred competition. And Pope being the nominated vice-captain took up the mantle of captaincy in Stokes’ absence, though the all-rounder is present in the dressing room.
While England has won both the Tests in Ollie Pope’s captaincy, his batting has been the center of discussion in English cricketing circles. Pope hasn’t managed to reach 20 in the four innings England have batted in the two Tests. He scored 6&6 in the first Test in Manchester.
And then at Lord’s, Pope made 1 and 17 in the two innings, while Joe Root, the ex-captain belted twin centuries, and even Gus Atkinson hammered his maiden FC and Test ton.
“I’m not going to put down my average shot to the fact that I was captain. “I’ll learn from it and move on, but I think I’ve managed my own game better throughout this match… The second innings was slightly different, because we were really trying to push the game forward, but I was very disappointed with the shot I played in the first innings so early on.
I’m not going to hide behind the fact that I’ve had two poor games with the bat. That’s the way cricket is sometimes and form comes and goes. But I think the best players are the ones who can draw a line under it and have a fresh start next week. Hopefully, I can put a score together,” Pope told reporters and quoted ESPNCricinfo.
“I’m not surprised”- Ollie Pope on Michael Vaughan not liking him as England captain
Michael Vaughan has been particularly harsh, calling Ollie Pope “an insecure human being” and “not the kind of personality” who should be England captain.
Pope said he expected to face more scrutiny while in temporary command, and his main goal was to avoid “overthinking” ahead of Friday’s third Test at The Oval.
“I’m not surprised. Chatting to Stokesy before this series, when you’re captain as well, you’re going to attract a lot more [criticism]. To be honest, it is just important to block it out and keep staying close with the people around you. There’s a lot of voices, a lot of guys who want to have their say – some past cricketers as well – and that’s completely fine.
Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, but it’s important for us as a team and me to stay and keep trusting the people in the four walls, because that’s not going to help me get back into my best form. Sometimes, when you have two bad games, it can feel a lot worse than it is because of the noise that’s surrounding it,” Pope said.
The third Test of the series will be at the Oval, Pope’s home ground. He has scored 11 first-class hundreds for Surrey – since 2022.
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