Batter finishes grim tour with 55 runs in five innings, and no sense that he’s answered doubts about role
Matt Roller25-Oct-2024There were only 22 minutes between Ollie Pope walking out to bat and bad light bringing the second day in Rawalpindi to a premature close, yet it was hardly a surprise that he was already back in the England dressing-room. Pope has become an all-or-nothing player, and will return home next week with only 55 runs to show for his tour to Pakistan.This has been a chastening trip for Pope, who has been heavily backed by England’s management over the last two-and-a-half years but is not delivering the returns that such investment demands. Since falling second-ball to a superb catch at midwicket in the first Test (a match in which his team-mates racked up 823 runs between them), he has managed 29, 22, 3 and 1 and has looked out of his depth on two turning pitches.Pope played one of the great England innings in January, a hyperactive 196 which set up an improbable comeback win over India in Hyderabad, but it increasingly looks like an outlier. He has played 23 Test innings since, averaging 26.21 with more ducks (3) than hundreds (2); in Asia, he has batted 13 times and averaged 13.30, without reaching 40.He stared back at the pitch after this latest dismissal, edging Noman Ali to slip as the sun set behind the Sohail Tanvir Enclosure. The ball did turn and bounce to take the shoulder of his bat, but what else was Pope expecting on a dry pitch that Pakistan have openly tailored to suit their spinners? He jabbed at it with hard hands, away from his body: the outcome was predictable.This was Pope’s first dismissal to Noman after three in a row to Sajid Khan, the ebullient offspinner who has changed the complexion of this series. In Multan, Pope was beaten on the inside-edge by a ball that spun sharply, and then chipped back to the bowler via the inside-edge while looking to drive through mid-off; in the first innings here, he was pinned lbw on the sweep.It has taken England a long time to find a settled top seven and with series against India (home) and Australia (away) looming next year, they will rightly be reluctant to make a change unless they are confident that the alternative is better. The problem for Pope is that the route to that change has never been as clear as it is now.England are set to name their squad to tour New Zealand at the end of this Test and it is highly unlikely that Pope will be dropped. But Jamie Smith’s impending paternity leave means Jordan Cox will play at least one match on that tour, and potentially all three: if he succeeds with the bat and Pope fails, there will be a decision to make.Noman Ali removed Pope in the penultimate over of a terrible day for England•Getty ImagesPope was presented his 50th cap by Zak Crawley ahead of the first Test in Multan, who said his ability to “really seize the moment” had helped him become “one of the best players in the world”. It felt like a platitude rather than a genuine belief: Pope has played some exceptional innings, but the world’s best find a way to contribute in between those big scores.Crawley reached the same landmark in Rawalpindi and has also endured a quiet series, falling to Noman four times in a row since his 78 in the first Test. The biggest difference between the two is that Crawley has already proven himself against Australia and India. Pope averages 22.05 in 35 innings against them, including 11.16 on his previous Ashes tour.Six of Pope’s seven Test hundreds have come since Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes took over as England’s coach, as he has clearly valued their backing. But more than half of his dismissals in that time (28 out of 51) have been for scores below 20: that is the record of a lower-middle-order strokemaker, not a reliable No. 3.There has been one England batter who looked the part in that role on this tour, but it was not Pope. Joe Root was forced up the order in the first Test after Ben Duckett’s dislocated thumb prompted a reshuffle and had to walk out in the second over after Pope’s duck, but exuded calm on the second evening and eventually piled on a career-best 262..Root has expressed a clear preference to bat at No. 4, dating back to his time as captain. Back then, England’s openers would rarely bat long enough to give him a breather after he had exhausted his mental energy in the field, and often left him exposed to the new ball. The situation is very different now he is back in the ranks, with Crawley and Duckett’s established partnership one of England’s biggest strengths.In any case, Pope’s regular failures at No. 3 mean that Root already comes in soon after the first wicket more often than not. Root and Harry Brook moving up one spot each would either allow Pope a stay of execution in a more suitable No. 5 role, or Cox to be eased in: promoting Root is an option that England must at least consider revisiting.Unless England can manufacture an implausible comeback in Rawalpindi, they will suffer only their second series defeat under McCullum and Stokes. The first, in India, prompted ruthless and decisive change, with Jonny Bairstow, Ben Foakes and Ollie Robinson not seen since. If he survives until New Zealand as expected, then Pope can count himself lucky.