Hussain believes Pope appointment augurs well for England cricket
An injury to regular England Test captain Ben Stokes means his deputy Ollie Pope will lead the side for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka.
Speaking on the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast, former England skippers Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton discussed Pope’s appointment.
Hussain thinks it is good for someone like Pope to lead the side for a few games ahead of the Ashes Down Under next year.
“I think it’s good for Pope to be captain for three Tests, just in case, Ben Stokes does get injured in the future,” Hussain said. “They need other options. Just like when they go to Australia, and they don’t want a bowling attack that’s inexperienced.
“You don’t want to get there with someone [leading] who hasn’t done it before.”
However, the duo reckon that Pope has his set of challenges to overcome.
Atherton believes that the 26-year-old was in a slightly precarious position due to the temporary nature of the appointment.
“Essentially, you’re in a caretaker position. And Ben Stokes has left such a permanent mark on the side, Ollie Pope wouldn’t want to change that.
“While you are captain and you make decisions, it’s someone else’s team. It’s a slightly awkward position for him.”
Hussain added that Pope was yet to establish himself as the firm leader of the side.
“The feeling with Pope is that it doesn’t come naturally, [whereas] the feeling with Stokes is that cricketing intelligence comes very naturally to him. It feels like he [Pope] was given the vice-captaincy to get him out of that shell, the no. 3 position as well, we believe in you, which I think was the right thing to do.
“But the other side of that, when you’re captain. You’ve to sell that belief. Sell yourself to the team, your plans.”
The duo, however, do think that Pope is a well-liked figure and wished him the best on his appointment.
Like Stokes, England will also be without regular opener Zak Crawley for the series, who is missing out due to a fracture.
Hussain stated that the England management under Brendon McCullum would employ selectorial innovation rather than go back to players who have been dropped due to form.
“With this regime, in selection they don’t want to look back, even with their opening combinations. They really don’t want to go back to [Alex] Lees or [Keaton] Jennings or someone, they’re constantly looking forward,” Hussain said.
He cited Shoaib Bashir, who was selected with merely 10 wickets to his name as an example.
“They’ll just move up one, [Jamie] Smith can bat a bit higher, [Chris] Woakes can bat a bit higher, and maybe Olly Stone can. They’re [looking for] the younger ones, in the Lions game I noticed the lad Kasey Aldridge. I think that’s someone they maybe keeping an eye on the future.
“The [Shoaib] Bashir selection. They’ll do left-field selections.”
#FutureStars Dan Lawrence, England
Atherton concurred, adding that Zak Crawley was certain to regain his position after he returned from injury.
“Stokes came over and said, “When Crawley’s fit, he’ll come back.” So they don’t want to overcomplicate it.
He added that the England management would look to someone like Dan Lawrence to bring their positive gameplay to the top-order for the upcoming Test.
“Old-timers like me talk about opening being a specialist position. But they aren’t interested in that, they want a middle-order dasher like Dan Lawrence in that position.
“And if you said to Dan Lawrence, would you wait on the sidelines or have a crack [at] opening. Then definitely, he’s gonna try and grab that opportunity with both hands.”