England stand-in captain Ollie Pope stated that head coach Brendon McCullum made some ‘brutal’ changes to take the red ball team forward before the ongoing home season. Some key decisions have been made in recent months too, with James Anderson’s retirement and the dropping of Jonny Bairstow and Ben Foakes as wicketkeeping options. While Anderson was among the wickets, he had to step away of his own accord by England’s top brass, including McCullum.
“We have made some slight adjustments and obviously there has been a couple of injuries as well with Ben Stokes and Zak Crawley up top. They are just unfortunate injuries that happen. At the same time, it is a great opportunity for others guys to come in and get the go that they deserve,” Pope said ahead of the second Test against Sri Lanka. “With what Brendon (McCullum) did leading into this summer, he made some pretty brutal changes that he thought would take the team to a better place moving forward,” he further added.
However, Ollie Pope was not among the runs in the first Test after being dismissed for six runs across both innings. He also admitted that leading the team out as captain felt like a second debut for him as well, despite serving as vice-captain of the side and being in the leadership circle for quite sometimes now.
“It is almost like that kind of debut feeling again. But at the same time, I really enjoyed the week. Obviously the runs didn’t come for me, but for the team to get the win, that is the most important thing. I think the first time you do anything like that, I remember I was knackered after day one and I hadn’t done anything but fielded,” Pope shared.
However, England have made one change to the playing XI for the second Test against Sri Lanka as right-arm pacer Olly Stone returns to the setup after Mark Wood was ruled out of the remaining two Tests.
“I think we showed last week. We don’t use the term ‘Bazball’, but we played quote ‘a different style of cricket’ and I think that is something that can keep taking us forward as a team. When we can be ruthless, we have got to try to be ruthless just to win as many games as possible. Other days we will go out and score a little more freely and potentially take the wickets in a shorter amount of time,” he concluded.
