If Alick Anthanaze had managed to hang on to the sharp chance Ollie Pope gave him before Lunch, the scorecard at the end of the day could have looked decidedly different. As it was, Pope went into Lunch unbeaten on 47 a ball later, and reached his half-century two overs after the break.
On 54, however, he gave another chance. This one really should have been the end, slashed to Jason Holder at second slip but inexplicably fumbled. When you reach a century, there’s no caveat on the scorecard, no asterisk stating the number of times a player should have been out, nothing to say their innings has been anything other than a masterclass.
Pope’s 121 at Trent Bridge wasn’t a masterclass. There was a familiar freneticism at the start, coming in during the first over after Zak Crawley missed out on a good pitch. Early on, he was squared up and kept in line as Ben Duckett plundered runs at the other end. But, as he neared three figures, there was more control. He chose the deliveries to score off with more purpose, punishing the plethora of bad balls the West Indies attack dealt him while reining in his aggression before it reached recklessness.
Having made 57 in his previous innings at Lord’s, it adds up to a near-perfect start to a Test summer Pope came into needing to make the grade. He was given a significant run-in at his happiest hunting ground, playing seven County Championship matches for Surrey before joining up with England. But, from those 10 innings, he averaged 22.88 and passed 50 only once. While this was no cause for immediate alarm given the credit he has in the bank, a continuation of this lean form would have shone a harsher light on that run and what came before it.
Pope’s imperious 196 in Hyderabad - an innings hailed by Joe Root as “one of the best he’d ever seen” - was followed by a drought for the rest of the series in India. After that innings, his high score for the series was 39 and his average for the series, even with his Hyderabad heroics, was 31.50. What had looked like a turning point instead continued the narrative that Pope’s runs have mainly come on flat tracks or against weaker opposition.
The talent Pope possesses should never be in doubt. Touches of genius like the ducked-scoop in India, the 90-ball century in Rawalpindi and what he’s produced time after time for Surrey have shown what England have on their hands. The frustration isn’t that Pope isn’t good enough to play for England’s Test side for many years, but that anything but retiring as an England great will be less than his potential.
After 45 Tests, Pope averages 35.52. It’s fine, but everything about watching him play says he should be averaging in the mid 40s as a minimum. If he is to be that player, groomed for potential future captaincy and set to be one of the locks of England’s future, centuries like the one he scored today are bread and butter. Against a flagging opposition on a good pitch, the runs were there for the taking. That Pope took them today puts him back to where he should be.
England assert dominance in the second Test, amassing 416 runs in their first innings by the end of Day 1.
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) July 18, 2024
Scorecard: https://t.co/9ndBcyJHmW pic.twitter.com/9oLITirGi7
Equally, despite their dominance at Lord’s, none of the five batters who made half centuries went onto three figures. It’s welcome for England that one of their number converted in the types of conditions that should be ripe for runs, and at this point only a moderate concern that the rest haven’t yet been ruthless.
Crawley is the only one of England’s lineup that can really say they were undone by a jaffa today. Root made a mess of a pull shot just after Lunch, Harry Brook horribly mistimed a pull shot to give Kevin Sinclair something to somersault about. Ben Stokes was probably the most egregious culprit, closing in on what looked a near-certain triumphant century, he holed out from the tamest floaty length ball you’ll ever see. Even new golden-boy Jamie Smith wasn’t immune, slapping another non-threatening ball to Jason Holder at long-on.
By the time of Smith’s wicket, England probably had enough runs to win the match comfortably - perhaps even without needing to bat again. But with Stokes keeping an eye on the Ashes in 18 months time, throwing away a position of utter control isn’t the bedrock of rare away Ashes wins. Pope’s hundred was still the story, but it’s not accompanied by an undertone of England dominance.
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