Under-fire for his underwhelming performance in the ongoing England vs Sri Lanka Test series, skipper Ollie Pope has silenced his critics with a century in the third Test at Kennington Oval, London. Pope, who was misfiring after taking over captaincy for the Sri Lanka series, smashed a record-breaking return among scoring ways.
Pope has achieved a never-seen-before record in the history of Test cricket. He has become the first batter to hit his first seven Test centuries against all different teams. Sri Lanka is the seventh team against whom the right-handed batter has hit a hundred.
Starting his Test career, Pope hit his first Test century against South Africa in January 2020, hitting 135* in an away series. He then smashed his second Test ton against New Zealand, when he made 145 in a home Test series in June 2022.
Later when England toured Pakistan, he hit 108 in a Test in Rawalpindi. Pope hit 205 against Ireland during a one-off Test at Lord's. During England's tour of India earlier in the year, Pope hit his fifth Test century, scoring 196 in the Hyderabad Test. He carried his form in the West Indies series, making 121 in the Nottingham home Test before hitting his seventh against Sri Lanka.
Vaughan had earlier stated he did not see Pope as a captain. "I don't like him as the captain. He's not the kind of personality I'd want as the England captain," Vaughan had said in the Test Match Special podcast.
"He's quite an insecure human being - a great team guy and person but throwing the captaincy on him has added the pressure. He was doing great at number three. Harry Brook for me is an England captain in the making. I don't see Ollie Pope as that person," he added.
Pope responded to Vaughan's claim, saying he wanted to avoid overthinking about the outside noise. "I'm not surprised. Chatting to Stokesy before this series, when you're captain as well, you're going to attract a lot more [criticism]. To be honest, it is just important to block it out and keep staying close with the people around you. There's a lot of voices, a lot of guys who want to have their say - some past cricketers as well - and that's completely fine," he said.
