Whether it was part of the masterplan or not, having the pre-match microscope so firmly fixated on Jacob Bethell may well have been in Ollie Pope’s favour.
Coming into this test Pope had scored just 246 runs from his last 11 test innings at an average of 22.4, a sequence which included an anomalous 154 v Sri Lanka at The Oval, take that knock out of the equation, he compiled just 92 runs from 10 innings, with seven single digit scores. Ordinarily, that type of form would have been the week’s hot topic. As it happened, with Jordan Cox’s unfortunate injury, Pope was required to don the keeping gloves and rather stealthily disappear to the middle order with minimal eyelids batted.
And so today, from the sanctuary of No.6, with England at a very precarious 71-4 (still 277 runs behind the Black Caps first innings total), Ollie Pope, in partnership with a masterful Harry Brook, began to repair the early damage the kiwi seamers had inflicted upon the England top order.
“Obviously it was very pleasing to put together a partnership with Harry Brook out there, I think they bowled really well early on, some pretty good balls in there. It could have been worse too so I think from where we were to where we’re finishing the day, the boys are really happy with the scoreboard.” And so they should be, Pope fell for 77, but unbeaten contributions of 132 from Brook and 37 from Ben Stokes, guided England to a commanding 319-5.
It was a welcome return to form for Pope, who displayed great skill and composure throughout his innings - a stark contrast to his frenetic and fidgety outings in Pakistan. Referencing his recent troubles in the sub-continent Pope admitted, “It wasn’t an easy tour, obviously missing out on that road in the first one didn’t set the tone too well for me and then the pitches weren’t easy to bat on and I wasn’t good enough in that series to find a way.”
In order to find a way, Pope went back to the Oval and talked to his long-term mentor Alec Stewart, “The frustrating thing was, I wasn’t getting myself to 20, getting myself to 30 to allow myself to go on and make that big score. We talked about having that calmness at the crease and when I’m playing well that’s how it is, it’s just that clarity, how I want to play and not trying to rush my way to 20 or 30 but just play each ball as it comes.”
A standout feature of Pope’s innings today was his decision-making, watchful in defence early on but increasingly expansive when given the opportunity to score. If it wasn’t for a quite breath-taking one-hander from Glenn Phillips in the gully (a rare moment of brilliance on a day Harry Brook was dropped 4 times and 6 chances were shelled in total) Pope looked set to make an 8th test century. Asked if he felt unlucky to be on the receiving end of such a stunning piece of fielding during a day of so many missed opportunities, Pope was typically magnanimous, “Brooky, actually came and apologised to me, but I think it’s just how the game goes, that was a great catch from Glenn, fair play to him, on another day that goes for 4 and you’re off and running and hopefully making a really big one. It’s funny how the game goes.”
Despite appearing more relaxed at the crease, the England vice-captain felt he didn’t change his approach, “If I was batting at three I would have tried to have batted in exactly the same way as I did today, the biggest difference for me at three is you can set the tone a lot more, if you play well, you know you can put your team in a really strong position going forward.” Before going on to acknowledge there were also merits in batting lower down the order, “That’s also the fun thing about six as well, sometimes you might come in at 350-4 and it might be your job to really push the game forward or other times you might be trying to sort of rebuild something [like today] and not even think about how far behind you are but just trying to build a partnership together and try not to look too far ahead but you can get your team out of a bit of tricky situation, so I think both roles are good fun.”
But when pushed on where he sees his long-term future with England, Pope was very clear, “I want to be a no.3, I want to keep trying to make it my own, I’ve had too many low scores there but I’ve also managed to put together some good knocks this year batting at three, it’s a job I want to do going forward and I feel like my skillset is still developing and I’m becoming a better player as we go along so it’s definitely a job I want to keep doing.”
Ultimately, that decision will not be in Pope’s hands, that will be for McCullum and Stokes to decide, and in the short-term, at least, they may require Pope to continue to keep wicket, “Team always comes first, keeping is something I enjoy and I’m not going to bat massively differently at 6 to 3 so if it’s required, it’s something to worry about after this test match.”
Thanks to Pope and Brook’s rescue mission, England are now very much in a position of supremacy in Christchurch, whether Pope takes the gloves for the second test in Wellington remains to be seen, but allowing him to stay at no.6 regardless, might just be what’s best for both the player and the team.
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