Former captain Nasser Hussain thinks Ollie Pope’s appointment as England Test skipper for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka augurs well for the side ahead of the all-important Ashes happening next year in Australia. Pope was made England captain for the Sri Lanka series starting on August 21 as Ben Stokes was ruled out due to a torn hamstring. “I think it’s good for Pope to be captain for three Tests, just in case, Ben Stokes does get injured in the future. They need other options. Just like when they go to Australia, and they don’t want a bowling attack that’s inexperienced. You don’t want to get there with someone (leading) who hasn’t done it before,” said Hussain in the latest episode of Sky Sports Cricket Podcast.
At the same time, Hussain thinks Pope has yet to establish himself as a firm leader in the England Test side. “The feeling with Pope is that it doesn’t come naturally, (whereas) the feeling with Stokes is that cricketing intelligence comes very naturally to him.”
“It feels like he (Pope) was given the vice-captaincy to get him out of that shell, the no. 3 position as well, we believe in you, which I think was the right thing to do. But the other side of that, when you’re captain. You’ve to sell that belief. Sell yourself to the team, your plans.”
Similar views were echoed by former skipper Michael Atherton. “Essentially, you’re in a caretaker position. And Ben Stokes has left such a permanent mark on the side, Ollie Pope wouldn’t want to change that. While you are captain and you make decisions, it’s someone else’s team. It’s a slightly awkward position for him.”
Just like Stokes, England will also be without opener Zak Crawley for the series due to a broken finger. Hussain quipped Test head coach Brendon McCullum would employ innovations in selection, instead of going back to players who have been dropped from the side due to form.
“With this regime, in selection they don’t want to look back, even with their opening combinations. They really don’t want to go back to (Alex) Lees or (Keaton) Jennings or someone, they’re constantly looking forward.”
“They’ll just move up one, (Jamie) Smith can bat a bit higher, (Chris) Woakes can bat a bit higher, and maybe Olly Stone can. They’re (looking for) the younger ones, in the Lions game I noticed the lad Kasey Aldridge. I think that’s someone they maybe keeping an eye on the future. The (Shoaib) Bashir selection. They’ll do left-field selections.”
Atherton stated someone like Dan Lawrence, who will open in Crawley’s absence, will be primed to bring their positive gameplay to the top-order for the upcoming Test series. “Stokes came over and said, ‘When Crawley’s fit, he’ll come back.’ So they don’t want to overcomplicate it.”
“Old-timers like me talk about opening being a specialist position. But they aren’t interested in that, they want a middle-order dasher like Dan Lawrence in that position. And if you said to Dan Lawrence, would you wait on the sidelines or have a crack (at) opening. Then definitely, he’s gonna try and grab that opportunity with both hands.”
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