The Ashes: Ollie Pope is just not good enough and England butchered chance to move on from him
Usually, the arrival of a Pope is heralded with a puff of white smoke. With this one, you might as well throw a white flag of surrender. His approach at the Gabba was captivating in its stupidity, suggesting a pathological inability to read the match situation. Having fidgeted for three overs, his only ruse to deal with the pressure was to throw his bat at anything in the fourth-stump channel, choosing flashiness above forbearance. Soon enough, this kamikaze approach received a fitting punishment, with the gift of his wicket handed to Australia on a silver platter.
The role of a No 3 batsman is arguably the most significant in Test cricket, requiring a player who combines impeccable technique with obdurate temperament. Think of the legends who have exemplified the art: Sir Donald Bradman, Ricky Ponting, Viv Richards, Rahul Dravid. It is a basic job prerequisite to salvage a teetering innings after an early wicket, or to soak up pressure with composure and shrewd defensive decisions. “If you aren’t mentally attuned to going in early,” Ian Chappell once said, “then No 3 is not the spot for you.”
Suffice it to say that Pope lacks the necessary wiring. Even after 64 Tests, he is skittish, jittery, incapable of stabilising England when they are sinking. His presence on this Ashes tour has long been a bone of contention: when he fell cheaply last summer against India at both Edgbaston and Lord’s, there were concerted calls to replace him at three with young Jacob Bethell, who had looked a natural in amassing 260 runs across five innings in New Zealand. Except Bethell spent the first part of the year as a spare part in the Indian Premier League, while Pope rendered himself effectively undroppable after scoring 171 against Zimbabwe in May.
This has to be considered a miscalculation now. Of what relevance, ultimately, was a high score at the expense of Zimbabwe? South Africa’s Wiaan Mulder recorded an unbeaten 367 in Bulawayo this year, and he would not exactly be deemed a world-beater. The awkward reality is that Pope’s reputation is artificially inflated by his statistics against second-tier opposition. You might be tempted to describe his Test average of 35.4 as halfway respectable. But take away the contribution in thrashing Zimbabwe, or his 205 against Ireland at Lord’s in 2023, and this figure drops to 33. Those relatively easy pickings did too much heavy lifting in securing his call-up for a series of such magnitude.
Under the suffocating strain that only a tour Down Under can create, Pope is a liability. In three Tests on the 2021/22 tour, he made just 67 runs combined. Of the English specialist batsmen who have played as many Ashes Tests as him, only Dennis Amiss has a worse average against Australia in the last 125 years. And this is the figure being asked by Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum to be their linchpin, their tone-setter, their rock.
