MATCH STORY
Follow UsOllie Pope brought up his sixth Test hundred on Day 1 of the second Test at Trent Bridge against West Indies. Although it wasn’t a fluent knock, it was quite a significant one in England’s cause, given Pope was out to bat in the very first over after Zak Crawley’s dismissal for a duck.
Pope started as a second-fiddle to Ben Duckett in the century stand for the second wicket. While Duckett raced ahead with the quickest fifty for an England opener in Test cricket, Pope bided his time. The duo recorded a 105-run stand off only 112 balls. Pope contributed 31 off 53 balls to the partnership.
The right-hander had hit a bit of a rut in red-ball cricket. In the ongoing County Championship, Pope averaged only 22.9 across 10 innings with a top score of 63. He was also hit-and-miss in the T20 Blast, registering two ducks but also notching up an unbeaten 99 against Sussex.
However, there were no qualms over Pope’s place heading into the Nottingham Test. In the first Test, Pope scored a quickfire 57 in the solitary innings England batted.
But Pope batted with a much more stabilized approach in Nottingham. Between balls 31 to 60, he had a false shot percentage of 33.3%, absorbing the pressure and scoring only 10 runs while watching Duckett do his thing.
Later, Pope was dropped twice on either side of the lunch break. On the penultimate ball of the first session, Alick Athanaze failed to hold onto a sharp chance to dismiss Pope for 46. Five overs later, Jason Holder was caught napping at second slip, spilling a straightforward chance to send back Pope for 54.
Given West Indies bowled loosely throughout the day, Pope’s task got easier as the innings went on. Post the second life, he scored 65 off 76 balls. His false shot percentage during this phase was 6.5%.
Pope walked in with England 0/1 in 0.3 overs. He left in the final session, with England’s score reading 281/5, setting the platform for the hosts. Alzarri Joseph eventually nailed him with a good length, the area where Pope had the lowest strike rate in this knock.
The Surrey-batter had a lazy waft at similar delivery that had produced the aforementioned chances. This time, the catch went to the gloveman Joshua Da Silva.
Five of Pope’s six Test centuries have come in the first innings, and all of them have been against different oppositions. The only hundred that didn’t come in the first innings was his epic 196 in England’s win in Hyderabad earlier this year.
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