England head coach Brendon McCullum remains hopeful about Josh Hull as he prepares for his Test debut against Sri Lanka at The Oval as well. The veteran also added that the youngster will be backed no matter what his performance is on debut. However, Hull earned his maiden call-up to the Test squad after Mark Wood was ruled out of the entire series with a thigh muscle strain in the opening match.
At the presser at The Oval ahead of the third and final Test of the series, McCullum said about Hull, as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo: “We hope he goes well, he might go there and take ten-for … we’ve got no idea, but it kind of doesn’t matter. We see him as someone that’s worth investing in, and worth giving opportunities to. And whatever happens, we’ll wrap our arm around him, and make sure that he knows that he’s firmly in our sights for the future.”
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“The footmarks that he’s going to present as well for Shoaib Bashir will be interesting. It’ll give Bash a lot of excitement too. But again, I stress, if this isn’t this week, it doesn’t matter. Ultimately, he’s someone who is going to be able to provide us with another string to our bow, another weapon that is going to make us a more rounded side, that can challenge teams in various conditions.” he again said.
However, stand-in captain Ollie Pope has failed to score well in the first two Tests against Sri Lanka in the ongoing series despite England’s 2-0 win. McCullum reminded that he had done well in the previous series. He also shared how the low scores from Pope haven’t affected his leadership as well.
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“It was only a couple of Tests ago, he was scoring runs and playing really well, right? No. 3 is a very difficult place to bat over here, he’s done a great job for us over the last couple of years in that position.”He would have loved to have scored more runs since he’s taken over the captaincy, but you don’t always get what you wish for. In my mind, it hasn’t affected his leadership, which is very important,” he concluded.
