Ollie Pope likes to hold the wicket and break down the order. That much was clear after the first two days in Christchurch, where his work with the gloves went unnoticed for the right reasons and his valuable 77 with the bat helped swing things England’s way.
But even if the England vice-captain continues to take on this dual role for the remainder of this New Zealand tour – Durham’s Ollie Robinson flies out as an alternative following Jordan Cox’s broken thumb – there remains a desire to resume his place as number 3. This is despite Pope leaving the 2-1 defeat in Pakistan with just 59 runs to his name and questions swirling about his suitability for the demands of the role.
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Speaking after he and Harry Brook, 132 not out, dragged England out of the mud on the second day of the first Test at Hagley Oval, their fifth wicket stand of 151 runs pushing back after a difficult start, Pope stressed that his approach was the same as it would have been if he had gone on the first kickoff.
“I want to be No. 3; I want to keep trying to make it my own,” Pope said. “I had too many bad scores there, but I also managed to string together some good shots this year. It’s definitely work I want to continue doing.
“If I had hit three-pointers, I would have tried to play exactly the same way as I did today. The biggest difference with three is that you set the tone much more. If you play well, you can put your team in a very strong position.
“The funny thing is at six, you could get to 350 for four and it could be your job to move the game forward. [Or] you can get your team out of a sticky situation. Both roles are great fun, just slightly different.
The other difference between this Test match and Pakistan – beyond the obvious lurch in conditions following England’s split on suitable surfaces in Multan and Rawalpindi – was apparently between the ears, with Pope having sat down to seek advice from Surrey’s outgoing director of cricket, Alec. Stewart, between two tours.
He explained: “I didn’t make Stewy throw balls at the dog stick, he’s too high for that I think. We had an open discussion and it’s probably healthy to talk to someone on the outside who is watching you.
“Sometimes that’s a good opinion to have. I gained a lot from coming back and talking to him. Pakistan was not an easy tour and I was not good enough to find a way. For me, it was really important to draw a line under it.
“It was more about ‘What does it look like when I’m at my best?’ » because it was something frustrating: I couldn’t reach 20 or 30, to allow me to follow up with this big score. We talked about that calm at the crease. When I’m playing well, there’s this clarity in how I want to play, without trying to rush to 20 or 30.”