Quote-tweeting an article posted by Fox Cricket, Pope issued a clarification, pertaining to this line: “I think you need those tougher times like I had in Australia and the fear the guys had in Australia to learn some good, hard lessons and realise what you need to do to be successful at this level. So, hopefully I can really take that into the Ashes this summer”.

The article was shared with the headline: ‘Hard lessons: Ollie Pope opens up on England’s ‘fear’ in trainwreck Ashes campaign’.

Pope claimed that he had not used the word “fear”, but had, instead said “fair few”.

FYI I said a fair few of the guys, not fear https://t.co/vUTB6khRnJ

— Ollie Pope (@OPope32) April 7, 2023

In fact, Fox were syndicating quotes from an interview published by Sky Sports, which originally misquoted him as using the word “fear”. The headline read – ‘Pope: England learned from ‘fear’ of Australia | ‘You need tougher times’.’

At the time of writing, neither the headline nor the content of the piece has been updated following Pope’s tweet. Listening to the original video, Pope clearly says “few of the guys”, while referring to his teammates, and not “fear”.

England lost the five-Test Ashes series 4-0, retaining the urn after winning the first three Tests in a row. Pope himself endured a difficult tour, scoring 67 runs in six innings at an average of 11.16, but is a lot more confident going into the series this time.

“So, I think at the minute we’re just really enjoying our stuff and I think from a personal point of view, I’m a lot more confident in my own game.”