England stand-in skipper Ollie Pope said that he is not surprised at the criticism he has received in his brief stint as captain so far and he wants to block all the noise and avoid “overthinking” ahead of the final Test against Sri Lanka at The Oval, which is the home ground of his county team Surrey.
While England secured a series-winning 190-run victory against Australia, Pope’s poor run of form in the Test series, just 30 runs in four innings so far, is a highlight of the three-match affair so far. In the Test series, he has had a very bad success rate while using the Decision Review System (DRS) so far.
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During the second Test, former England skipper Michael Vaughan criticised Pope, calling him “an insecure human being” and “not the kind of personality” that should be leading England.
Replying to that criticism, Pope has now said that he expected such criticism and even had a talk with regular skipper Ben Stokes, who is out due to injury, about the criticism and opinion coming from different quarters while being the leader of the pack.
“I am not surprised. Chatting to Stokesy before this series, when you are captain as well, you are going to attract a lot more [criticism]. To be honest, it is just important to block it out and keep staying close with the people around you. There are a lot of voices, a lot of guys who want to have their say – some past cricketers as well – and that is completely fine,” said Pope.
Pope said that while everyone is entitled to their views, it is important that the team trusts each other, which would help him get into his best form as well. He said that he wants to stay level and trust the people around him, instead of overthinking stuff.
“Sometimes, when you have two bad games, it can feel a lot worse than it is because of the noise that is surrounding it,” said Pope.
“For me, it is just trying to stay as level as I can and keep on trusting the people around me, putting my work in, and not really overthinking it, to be honest. When I went and made good runs in that West Indies series, that is exactly what I was playing like, so there is no real need for me to get too involved in what people are saying,” he added.
Pope said that he has also sought advice from Joe Root, saying that any batter in the country can learn from him.
“Form is something that comes and goes… for me, it is not overthinking it, keep training hard, and going into the next game, it is a completely fresh week, a fresh start,” he concluded.
Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to field first. England scored 427 runs in the first innings, with Root (143 in 206 balls, with 18 fours) and Gus Atkinson (118 in 115 balls, with 14 fours and four sixes) slamming centuries to take England to a massive score.
Asitha Fernando (5/102) was the top bowler for Sri Lanka. Milan Rathnayake and Lahiru Kumara took two wickets each.
In their first innings, despite Kamindu Mendis’s fighting 74 runs in 120 balls, with eight fours and three sixes, Sri Lanka could manage just 196 runs as the top-order let the team down again. Chris Woakes, Olly Stones, Gus Atkinson, and Matthew Potts got two wickets each, while Shoaib Bashir got one. England led by 231 runs.
Sri Lanka showcased much better control with the ball in England’s second inning, bundling them out for 251 runs. After Root’s 103 in 121 balls, with 10 fours, the second biggest contribution was delivered by Harry Brook (37 in 36 balls, with four boundaries and a six).
Asitha Fernando (3/52) and Lahiru Kumara (3/53) were the top wicket takers for Sri Lanka.
In the run-chase of 483, Sri Lanka put up a fight as three half-centuries came from Dimuth Karunaratne (55 in 129 balls, with seven fours), Dinesh Chandimal (58 in 62 balls, with 11 fours) and skipper Dhananjaya de Silva (50 in 71 balls, with seven fours). But despite that, Lanka was bundled out for 292 runs and lost by 190 runs.
Atkinson (5/62) was the pick of the bowlers for England, picking his third five-wicket haul at the Lord’s. Olly Stone and Chris Woakes also got two wickets.
Atkinson secured the ‘Player of the Match’ award for his all-round performance.
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(With inputs from ANI)
