Stand-in manages only 30 works in four pitches, but looks to swing back at The Oval
Following a 30 run loss to Sri Lanka in four pitches, Olivia Pope has pledged to "block out" censure of his bat. England may include a great record under his captain, but Pope has come under fire after failing to reach 20 across two Testing standing in for the wounded Ben Stokes.
Pope managed ratings of 1 and 17 during England's 190-run succeed at Lord's, and the fashion of his rejections suggested that his charge to" compartmentalise" the captain had failed. In the first innings, he top-edged a wild pull to square leg, in the second, with England setting up a declaration, he was caught at deep point ( the only man back on the off-side ) when top-edging an uppercut.
" I'm not going to set down my ordinary shot to the fact that I was captain", Pope said. " I'll learn from it and move on, but I think I've managed my own game better throughout this match … The second innings was slightly different, because we were really trying to push the game forward, but I was very disappointed with the shot I played in the first innings so early on.
" I'm not going to cover behind the fact that I've had two bad matches with the pitcher. That's the approach cricket is often and kind comes and goes. But I think the best players are the ones who can draw a line under it and had a fresh start next year. Finally, I can place a score together."
Earlier in his pitches, Pope has a reputation for being frenetic. Steve James of The Times has labelled him" the worst start since shrimp cocktail", and Pope has now been dismissed within his first 20 balloons 32 days in 85 Test pitches. Despite coming into the line in a good spirit of kind, following a decade and two seventies against West Indies, he conceded that his anxious starts are an concern that he is trying to address.
" The final two matches I've had, they're learning matches for me, "he said". It certainly is something that I'm also trying to improve in my sport, and certainly the way that I start my innings specially is something that I want to stay on improving- and then when I do get in, it's trying to cash in as well."
Michael Vaughan has been particularly important, naming Pope" an insecure man be "and" not the kind of persona" that should be England captain. Pope said that had expected to find himself under more scrutiny while in momentary cost, and that his main aim was to prevent" overthinking" away of Friday's second Test at The Oval.
" I'm not surprised, "he said". Chatting to Stokesy before this series, when you're captain as well, you're 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's a lot of voices, a lot of guys who want to have their say- some past cricketers as well- and that's completely fine.
" Everyone's entitled to their opinion, but it's important for us as a team and me to stay and keep trusting the people in the four walls, because that's not going to help me get back into my best form. Sometimes, when you have two bad games, it can feel a lot worse than it is because of the noise that's surrounding it".
" For me, it's just trying to stay as level as I can and keep on trusting the people who surround me, investing in my work, and not really overanalyzing it, to be honest. When I went and made good runs in that West Indies series, that's exactly what I was playing like, so there's no real need for me to get too involved in what people are saying".
Pope has sought advice from Joe Root, whose twin hundreds set up England's series-clinching win at Lord's, since taking on the captaincy. " Any batter in England can learn a fair bit off him", he said. " Form is something that comes and goes … for me, it's not overthinking it, keep training hard, and going into the next game, it's a completely fresh week, a fresh start".
It will be Pope's first Test at his home ground- where he has scored 11 first-class hundreds for Surrey- since 2022. " Obviously it's a great place to bat", he said. " It's always special getting back to The Oval, where I've played all my county cricket, so hopefully there will be a great crowd in. Everyone will be eager to visit The Oval.
England have not won every Test in a home season since 2004, and will be pushing for a summer sweep. " It would be a pretty cool thing to look back on", Pope said. " We played some really good cricket all summer long, and it's obvious that we had a difficult winter while traveling to India and getting the wrong results." So to get used to winning games back-to-back is really pleasing for us".
Copyright Notice:
Datavictory copyrights this specification. No part of this specification may be reproduced in any form or means, without the prior written consent of Datavictory.
Link:
