While Ben Stokes is out tending to his injury, the England players have not forgotten their Bazballian Mantra, as is evident from their two in two wins. For some technical reasons, though, many people believe the stand-in captain Ollie Pope is not a great choice for the long run. Although we are not sure why this debate has been sparked in the first place as Stokes is likely to get back into his role as soon as he is declared fit, the sentiment regarding the issue is somewhat understandable. No one receives hate more than an out-of-form captain. You would be dropping bangers as a captain but no one would care unless your individual performances are not top-notch. Similarly, if you don’t know a thing about captaincy but can make it to the news easily based on your performances, you are not promptly left to the wolves. Sadly, Pope is a victim of the former predicament right now.
For better or for worse, he knows and even had been expecting increased scrutiny ever since he nodded to filling in for Ben Stokes. Bad form increases this scrutiny a thousandfold because you have no option but to face the music.
“I’m not surprised. 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.” Ollie Pope said when asked about his time as the English red-ball captain.
Luckily, he knows not to unnecessarily fuss about bad form and criticism that he is receiving for… well doing his job.
“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.”
It has been six innings since he scored a half-century, the last fifty-plus runs came against West Indies in July. He believes, although, that the last match at the Oval will bring glad tidings for him. He also believes that captaincy has nothing to do with the slump in his form. Talking about the run famine, the English top-order batter said,
“I’m not going to put down my average shot to the fact that I was captain. I’ll learn from it and move on, but I think I’ve managed my own game better throughout this match”
He further said,
“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 hide behind the fact that I’ve had two poor games with the bat. That’s the way cricket is sometimes and form comes and goes. But I think the best players are the ones who can draw a line under it and have a fresh start next week. Hopefully, I can put a score together.”
England have an awful lot of Test cricket to be played till the end of this year. This means Pope has but more opportunities to make himself rise from the bottom he has hit. One Ben Stokes makes his way back to the team, the spotlight will likely be moved from the 26-year-old batter who will love working on himself without a cacophony of criticism surrounding him.
