by Life after Ben Stokes became a little clearer in Hyderabad as Ollie Pope underlined his credentials to be England’s next Test captain. Stokes has plenty of life left in him and is working hard on his fitness to get back on track and ensure his career lasts as long as possible. In the past he has talked about playing until he is 40 and is moving freely after his knee operation.
But you would not be surprised if one day Stokes suddenly decides to stand down as captain either when he feels that he has achieved all his aims, such as winning in Australia, or if he believes that someone another ready to step up.
Pope has taken huge steps to ensure that his 196 and his behavior on the field during the first Test will be memorable.
As the game reached its dying moments with India’s last pair at the crease, it was Pope who directed the field while Stokes was on the boundary. Stokes could often be seen looking to the Pope to discuss tactics and pitches during the match, more so than he did for the three Tests he served as vice-captain last summer before being injured at Lord’s.
When Jasprit Bumrah blocked Pope while following him, he complained to Rohit Sharma and made it clear that he was not happy with the umpires, something he would not have done as a young bowler on the last Ashes tour.
It was Pope who addressed the team before play on the third day when India was well ahead in the game and he himself failed in the first innings. He then scored the game-changing first Test run which will go down as one of the greatest ever by an Englishman overseas. “He seized the moment and backed it up in his actions,” Joe Root said. “That’s what you want from leaders in the dressing room.”
It will give the Pope immense confidence to build his career and grow as a leader. Insiders say the Pope has a good cricketing brain, is quiet but not afraid to give Stokes opinions and is well-liked by the group. It is very different to Stokes. Pope went from the public school at Cranleigh to the Surrey team. Stokes left a state school in Cumbria with one GCSE and joined Durham. One of Stokes’ strengths is that he gets on with people from very different backgrounds and they are both united by the same common cause – the winning spirit of this England team.
It was clear that Pope’s maturity was growing in that he did not dwell on his failure in the first innings, which was the case before Stokes became captain. “When things didn’t go as planned, I really felt it,” he said Sports telegraph in 2020 about struggling to deal with failure.
Stokes and Brendon McCullum have allayed that fear and Pope has given the batting vice his mind too. Instead of pouring his one run in the first innings off 11 balls, the Pope threw himself to help Stokes tactically.
“I immersed myself in the game a little better than I did in the past,” Pope said. “For me instead of standing in the field thinking about my forward defense, which I probably did three or four years ago, it’s better to think about plans and things.”
Succession planning has never been a strong point for English cricket and selecting a potential captaincy is not easy. No one knows how they will react to the responsibility until they are entrusted with it. See the one day team now. It is difficult to pick anyone to take over from Jos Buttler as there has been little regeneration in the last eight years.
Stokes will know to avoid the same mistake as he tries to build a legacy and change the way English cricket plays the longer format. He wants the next England captain to carry on Babzall’s philosophy or what’s the point?
The Pope still has questions. One is whether his game can live up to the high-quality pace that he suffered on the last Ashes tour and against Australia at Lord’s last summer when he took the short ball.
He also needs to remove a quieter authority at the beginning of tomorrow. He also has to stay fit. Three serious shoulder operations have interrupted his career but I hope he doesn’t have to throw himself into the field any longer to project authority.
It took Stokes a year to pick a vice-captain. At that time he assessed his options. The Pope was impressed with his request to move to No. 3 despite not batting for Surrey and a willingness to take the gloves in Pakistan when Ben Foakes was ill.
His popularity led Stokes to promote him as a bridge between himself and the younger players. Pope, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett and Harry Brook are a generation apart from Stokes, Root and Jonny Bairstow and schisms can develop with age.
Crawley will also be a captaincy candidate. He filled in for Buttler last summer and with 40 Tests already under the age of 25 he is now an experienced cricketer. Brook has a shrewd cricketing brain and elements of Stokes’ streetwise nature.
Mike Brearley believes Stokes was so successful because he learned compassion through his own struggles. The Pope also has low moments. He has drowned, suffered two serious injuries and struggled with the pressures of the Covid bubbles.
Brearley also says that compassion is no good without toughness and that Stokes is feared by all the players. Not many of them are willing to tell him. The Pope will have to work on that side of his personality but he is showing signs that he is no longer a brute.
