'Unfortunately, it's just English culture towards sport' - Stokes shields underfire Pope from criticism
'Unfortunately, it's just English culture towards sport' - Stokes shields Pope
England Test captain Ben Stokes has backed underfire stand-in skipper Ollie Pope, who has received severe criticism for his dry run with the bat. Since Stokes got ruled out of the home summer due to a torn left hamstring, Pope, his vice-captain, assumed the captaincy role, winning his maiden series against Sri Lanka. Though he has taken some brave calls as a skipper in the two Tests, Pope has averaged 7.50 from mere four innings.
From former England captain Michael Vaughan calling Pope ‘an insecure human being’ and ill-equipped to lead a national side to several stars putting him down for his lacklustre show thus far, Pope has a chance to turn the tables against SL, when the third Test gets underway at the Oval.
Stokes, who in the past has faced the wrath of the media and fans during his tenure, knows how to counter this.
ALSO READ:No Indian, 2 Sri Lankans named in ICC Player of the Month nominees in men’s and women’s categories
Labelling this as an unfortunate case of English culture towards sports, Stokes hailed Pope for how he led the team in the first two games despite not captaining at this stage.
"Unfortunately, it's just English culture towards sport," Stokes said to ESPNcricinfo ahead of the third Test vs Sri Lanka.
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"There's always got to be someone in the firing line, and obviously, when you're captain, you are more exposed to that.
"He's won two games out of two in charge. At the end of the day, I think that's the thing that he's concentrated on the most. He obviously wants to be scoring runs and leading from the front. He's openly admitted that.
"People are very quick to jump on anything, to someone who's in the firing line and obviously Pope coming in and being captain whilst I'm injured, you can say he's the easy target there,” Stokes continued.
He’s led the team fantastically:Stokes
Despite getting ruled out from the on-field cricket, Stokes sat inside the dressing room throughout the series and watched Pope captain England to two straight wins.
"But I think he's done fantastically well in leading the team. He's done it his own way, which is something I encouraged 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.
"I think he's tactically he's done very 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 good game, and everyone's saying he is out of form. It's like 'short memories people, come on!'"
Meanwhile, if England wins the final Test at The Oval, they will finish the home season unbeaten for the first time since 2004.
(With inputs from agencies)