In the second Test between Sri Lanka and England at Lord’s, Ollie Pope wants to lead from the front and “reward” his England side with runs as England captain in absentia Pope. Ollie, who took over his captaincy after Stokes was forced out by a hamstring injury, was able to secure his first win as an acting captain during the series opener at Old Trafford. However, he could only manage 12 runs in total during both innings for Old Trafford at the age of 26 years old.
Reflecting on his dual role, Pope shared insights into how he plans to separate his responsibilities as a captain from his role as a key batsman. “I learned how I can have my batting and captaincy separate,” Pope told BBC Sport. “For me, it is about as soon as we get off the pitch, drawing a line under that and then focus on batting.”
For almost two years now, Pope has been Stokes’ deputy captain earning him much needed experience which he intends to use in England’s advantage against Sri Lanka in their ongoing series.
Pope consults former captain Joe Root for guidance on balancing leadership with batting
Though he has been given leadership responsibilities and occupies a permanent spot within the team configuration, questions continue regarding how consistent he is with the England lineup especially when compared with other regulars occupying places among top six batsmen. Nevertheless, Pope is still hopeful of getting back into form soon.
“The runs didn’t come for me, but for the team to get the win, that’s the most important thing,” he said. “Hopefully, over the next couple of weeks, I can put some good scores together and reward the team with some runs.”
Pope is aware of how important it is to score runs with a batting average of 34.64 from 47 Test matches, especially at this time when England has injuries to main players like Stokes, opening batsman Zak Crawley or fast bowler Mark Wood. Of the squad that played the last Ashes Test against Australia, only four players will be left in the team which will play at Lord’s on Thursday.
In an effort to manage both batting and captaincy, Pope has consulted Joe Root whose experience in both roles is extensive. Root was England’s former Test captain who led them through record 64 matches and managed to maintain high batting average of 46.44 during this period.
Even though he faced many challenges while captaining, Root ended his time with a strong form streak thus setting a model for others like Pope.
“It’s nothing massive, but it’s about finding a way to get into your old routine of how you go out and bat,” said Pope.
“It’s just making sure that I keep doing what has brought success over the last couple of years and having that on repeat. As It’s just finding a way to compartmentalise. Chatting to Rooty, he’s obviously got a great cricket brain and is England’s best batter, so we just bounce a few ideas off each other.”
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