England vs India 2018: Ollie Pope Replaces Dawid Malan in England Lord’s Squad
Aug 5, 2018 at 5:07 PM
England has named their 13-man squad for the second Test match against India. The England and Wales Cricket Board have brought in Ollie Pope in place of Dawid Malan. The southpaw batsman Malan scored eight and 20 in the first Test match.
Meanwhile, Ollie Pope is in fine form in the County season while playing for Surrey. Pope has scored 684 runs at a staggering average of 85.60. Thus, the middle order batsman has enjoyed a prolific form for his County. Interestingly this is only the second season for the youngster.
England will look to build on the impetus.
Furthermore, Chris Woakes who was recuperating from an injury has also returned to the England squad. England’s talismanic all-rounder Ben Stokes is dropped out as he had to appear in Bristol Court for his affray charge case.
Meanwhile, Moeen Ali and Jamie Porter who failed to make the cut into the playing XI of the first Test match have also returned to the 13-man squad.
On the selection, national selector Ed Smith had this to say, “Ollie Pope has made an exceptional start to his first-class career. He has reached a 1,000 first-class runs in just 15 matches and is the first division’s stand-out batsman this season with 684 runs at 85. The selection panel believes that Ollie’s performances and character suggest he is well suited to international cricket.”
Ollie Pope takes the place of Dawid Malan who had struggled with his catching in the slips. Malan had given two lives to Virat Kohli in the first innings when Kohli was on 21 and 51. Subsequently, the talismanic batsman went on to score 149 and England had to pay the price.
“Dawid Malan drops out of the squad for Lord’s,” said Smith. “Dawid has not found his best rhythm this season, and it may be that his game is better suited to overseas conditions.”
Here is England’s 13-man Squad for the second Lord’s Test:
Joe Root (c), Moeen Ali, Jimmy Anderson, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Alastair Cook, Sam Curran, Keaton Jennings, Ollie Pope, Jamie Porter, Adil Rashid, Chris Woakes