New Delhi: England’s stand-in Test captain Ollie Pope has reached out to former skipper Joe Root on how to balance captaincy and batting after finding it difficult to juggle both during their first Test against Sri Lanka.
Deputising for the injured Ben Stokes, Pope led England to a five-wicket win in the first Test at Manchester’s Old Trafford to put the home team 1-0 up in the three-match series.
But No.3 batter Pope didn’t succeed as a batter, getting dismissed for six runs on both innings, losing his wicket to an ill-advised reverse sweep in the second innings.
Root led England to a record 64 Test matches between 2017 and 2022, hitting 14 centuries and with the second Test beginning at Lord’s on Thursday, Pope has sought advice from the 33-year-old to be useful as a batter while captaining the team.
“I really enjoyed the week. The runs didn’t translate for me but hopefully over the next two weeks, I can put aside my captaining when it’s time to bat and focus on my batting,” Pope said a pre-match media interaction at Lord’s on Wednesday.
“It’s about having the two things separate. That’s something I’ve spoken to Joe Root about. We just spoke about how it’s more taxing in the field but it’s finding a little routine and doing small things.”
“It’s just finding a way to compartmentalise. Chatting to Rooty, he’s obviously got a great cricket brain and is England’s best batter, so we just bounced a few ideas off each other.”
‘Bazball’
England have taken an aggressive batting approach in Tests since since Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum have taken charge of the team.
Root showed his true quality through an unbeaten 62 off 128 balls, hitting only two boundaries to anchor England in a 205-run chase in the first Test on a slow Old Trafford track.
“We don’t use the term ‘Bazball’ but we played a different style of cricket (at Old Trafford) and that’s something that can keep taking us forward as a team,” Pope said.
“When we can be ruthless, we’ve got to try and be ruthless just to win as many games as possible,” the 26-year-old batter added.
Deputising for the injured Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope led England to a five-wicket win in the first Test against Sri Lanka Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
