Before England’s Test against Sri Lanka began at the Oval, there was a lot of pressure on stand-in captain Ollie Pope, as runs dried off his bat when he stepped into an injured regular skipper Ben Stokes’ shoes.
But on day one of the match, Pope gave a strong answer to his critics by hitting an unbeaten 103 on his home ground – his seventh century for England in the longer format, as the hosts made 221/3 on a truncated day.
Former pacer Stuart Broad said all the talk around Pope before this Test won’t exist now after the sparkling century from the right-handed batter. “I think when you are struggling for a bit of form or rhythm, come back home at a place where he bats so well. He averages 80 here, he is so good in these conditions.”
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“If he could have wished to bat anywhere, even in these conditions, it would have been The Oval. He was frenetic for his first 20 or 30 balls and then he just settles in and plays. It almost feels like he is forcing himself to get on the front foot and then he gets a few boundaries and he plays.”
“He is a high-quality player, plays beautiful shots, and when you are bowling at batters like him you have to get it right early. Once he gets in, he is always going to punish you and take runs off you. He was averaging seven and all the talk was about him. Now it won’t be,” said Broad to Sky Sports Cricket.
Former skipper Nasser Hussain was also in praise of Pope standing up when things were under pressure for him and England. “He started the summer well but he has just fallen away a little bit. I like the way he’s worked at his game and here, he was forcing himself forward a lot more, getting in better positions defensively.”
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“He was still aggressive in the way he bats. He obviously loves this ground, which helps when you come here a bit out of nick and you’ve got runs here for a very long time in first-class cricket That was a special moment for him,” Hussain added.
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