England spin bowling coach Jeetan Patel raised his concerns over the officials’ decision to force England vice-captain Ollie Pope to take the field despite having an issue on his shoulder. The 25-year-old suffered an injury on the Day 1 of the second test in Lord’s trying to stop the ball on mid-on.
Ollie Pope was allowed to bat in his regular number three position in the 1st innings, where he scored a quick-fire 42 runs before falling to the short ball tactics of the Australian pacers. Pope’s injury has aggravated during the second innings of the Australian batting, which leaves England’s team in a tough situation on the second test of the high-octane series.
Speaking to the media after the End of the Day 3 play, Jeetan Patel revealed that Ollie Pope will be ready to bat for England in the 2nd innings and said that the team management is surprised by the decision of the match officials, as they asked their star batter to take the field despite having a shoulder injury and added that he is committed to being playing in the 2nd innings.
“He is sore but he should be OK to bat again tomorrow. We’re a bit bewildered by it all. We haven’t clarified yet with the officials as to why he was told he had to get back out there and field. It’s a pretty tough situation when you nearly bust your shoulder and you’re told it was an external [injury], is it still an external, we don’t know?”
“He had to go back out there. It was always going to happen, isn’t it? He’s so committed to this team he was always going to fall on something, and now he’s back off the field icing his shoulder,” Jeetan Patel said.
According to the reports in Espncricinfo, England team was asked to field with 10 players if Ollie Pope doesn’t take the field in Australia’s batting innings, as they were not given the option to use the substitute player in their place of him.
It’s A Bit Messy If I’m Honest With You – Jeetan Patel
Jeetan Patel said that decision from the match officials is confusing, as the England team was denied a substitute fielder for Ollie Pope, as it made no sense in the game, and reckons that the team is frustrated about the stand of the match officials in the matter and added that the lack of clarity has affected their decision.
“It’s a bit confusing. We assume that he was told he had to be back out on the field or else we had to field with 10 men, and that made no sense to me. It’s a bit messy if I’m honest with you. We’re probably as frustrated as everyone else out there that saw what happened, and him, and he’s probably more angry at the situation than anything else,” Jeetan Patel added.
England’s team is in a struggling position at the end of Day 3, as the Australian team is leading the 2nd innings by 221 runs with eight wickets in their hand. They will look to extend the lead on Day 4 to post a big total to defend against Ben Stokes-led side on the second test of the high-octane Ashes series.