TRENT BRIDGE — You have to feel for Ollie Pope. Despite scoring a century on the opening day of this one-off Test against Zimbabwe you do wonder whether it will make any difference at all when it comes to keeping his place for the marquee series of the summer against India.
Given the comments from Ben Stokes on the eve of this four-day match in Nottingham, when England’s captain strongly hinted Jacob Bethell would walk straight back into the team on his return from the Indian Premier League, Pope’s hold on the No 3 position is precarious.
"An excellent hundred, you have to say a much-needed one"
An eighth Test century for Ollie Pope pic.twitter.com/bTHQxATfqq
The veracity of that clarification will be clear when the team for the first Test against India starts at Headingley on 20 June.
That does not automatically mean Pope will be dropped, there might be other ways to fit Bethell in.
Yet he cut the figure of a condemned man as he sat on the balcony for half the day waiting to bat as openers Zak Crawley, another man under pressure, and Ben Duckett put on a stand of 231.
England finish day one on 498-3 after centuries from Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope pic.twitter.com/kX3syXUnvz
Despite that nervy start, Pope soon settled into his rhythm, reaching 50 in 48 balls and ending the day unbeaten on 169 as England piled up the runs against an attack of questionable quality on a featherbed pitch.
Given Crawley’s fine record against Australia and the Bazball brains trust will be reluctant to break up his opening partnership with Duckett, it seems unlikely he will be dropped anytime soon despite some horrendous recent form. His century will hopefully infuse him with confidence for the challenges ahead.
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No wonder the actual value of the runs is debatable given the weakness of the opposition.
The Ireland team swept aside by 10 wickets at Lord’s in 2023 are also contenders.
This is unfair given Pope also hit 196 against India at Hyderabad early last year to set up perhaps the greatest win of the Bazball era.
The response to his current situation here in Nottingham was classy. Safe in the knowledge he would have been criticised for not scoring runs against this attack, it might have been easy for him to have folded under the pressure, especially as he also knew any runs he did score would be written off as “cheap”.
Ben Duckett goes on the attack against Zimbabwe (Photo: Getty)
Duckett makes Zim wait
Back Crawley
Injury scare
Pope proves point
Stat of the day
Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett’s 231-run partnership was the highest by an England opening pair since 1960, when Colin Cowdrey and Geoff Pullar hit 290 against South Africa at The Oval.
Former England captain Michael Vaughan on BBC Test Match Special
Bazball-o-meter: 7/10
A fine day for Bazball (Graphic: The i Paper)Okay, so England went at 5.65 runs an over and racked up an impressive 498 for three but this Zimbabwe attack was terrible. It meant only sensible rather than super-aggressive cricket was needed.
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