England’s Test skipper, Ben Stokes, has opened up about the unfair criticism of the stand-in captain, Ollie Pope. Stokes believes that this criticism represents a bigger issue inside English sports culture, where there’s always a need for someone to be on the firing line.
With Stokes unavailable due to a strained left hamstring, Pope was given the duty to captain England’s Test team for the present Sri Lanka series. Despite leading the side to resounding victories in the first two Tests, Pope has experienced scathing criticism, particularly about his batting performance. His average of 7.50 from four innings has garnered scrutiny, with former England Captain Michael Vaughan branding Pope as an insecure human being. Stokes, who has been with the team throughout the series, expressed his dissatisfaction with the criticism at Pope.
“Unfortunately, it’s just English culture towards sport. There’s always going to be someone in the firing line and obviously, when you’re captain you are more vulnerable to it,” Stokes remarked.
He’s won two games out of two under charge: Ben Stokes
The Test captain lauded Pope’s leadership, underlining his accomplishment in winning two out of two games. Ben Stokes feels that the criticism his teammate is experiencing as he is an easy target in his absence. Meanwhile, the all-rounder is impressed by the manner Pope has led the club so far. He added that he guided him but encouraged him to give his flair while leading the side.
“He’s won two games out of two in charge. At the end of the day, I think it’s the thing that he’s concentrated on the most. He wants to be scoring runs and leading from the front. He’s freely admitted that. People are extremely ready to jump on anything, to someone who’s in the firing line and obviously Pope coming in and becoming captain whilst I’m unwell, you can say he’s the easy target there,” he continued.
“But I think he’s done tremendously well in guiding the team. He’s done it his own way, which is something I urged him to do, to keep driving the team forward in the way that I’ve been trying to do, but make sure that you put your own personal touches to it,” the Christchurch-born further stated.
Besides, Stokes also emphasised Pope’s recent batting form before the Sri Lanka series and commented about his consistent performances versus West Indies. He pointed out his regular runscoring in recent times barring one game where he failed to get going. Hence it was unjust to analyse Pope for his current form with the bat for England.
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“I think he’s strategically he’s done really well. Let’s not forget before that first Test against Sri Lanka, he’d come off the back of fifty, fifty and a hundred (57, 121 and 51 in consecutive innings against West Indies). And then he doesn’t have one strong game and everyone’s saying he is out of form. It’s like ‘short memories people, come on!” Stokes concluded
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