England captain Ollie Pope has praised the team for grinding out a successful run-chase against Sri Lanka in the first Test at Manchester.
They were set a target of 205 by the Lankans and they completed the task in 57.2 overs with five wickets in hand as well. Contrary to their usual aggressive batting style, England played a long time without boundaries, a trait that pleased Pope.

Speaking to BCC post-game, Ollie Pope said: “On another day you might see us try to knock that off in 20 less overs. It shows where we’re coming on as a team overall, we’re not just a one-dimensional team where we want to go out and score quickly. We want to keep reading situations slightly better and try to be as ruthless as we can. If we feel like that is a way to go, it’s not all about trying to score as quickly as we can, it’s about getting the job done.”

However, Ollie Pope also said that he learned a lot in his first stint as England’s Captain during the first Test against Sri Lanka. With regular captain Ben Stokes ruled out with a hamstring injury sustained at The Hundred, Pope will be in charge of England team for the rest of the three-match series.

“It was different, more so in the field. There were some good lessons learned for me,” Pope said in the same interview. “I think Stokesy was bored at times. He’d much rather be playing. He was great. Every now and again I’d pick his brain, more than he comes to me. He wanted to give me my own space to do it my own way, but I know there will be conversations with him and [McCullum] while we’re on the pitch about potential plans for different batters, which is great to have when we come off for a break,” Ollie Pope added.