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In place of the injured Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope will captain England’s Test team for the 82nd time on Wednesday when they take on Sri Lanka. While pledging to give “the same messages from a different voice,” Pope acknowledged on Tuesday that “it’s still Stokesy’s team” and that Stokes will stay with the team in Manchester for the whole of the three-match series.
Pope has led Surrey in eight T20 Blast matches this season, but he has only captained one first-class match—a thrilling tie in the County Championship. Since the beginning of the previous summer, Pope has served as England’s official vice-captain. With Stokes out of the series due to a hamstring tear sustained during the Hundred, Pope will have three Test matches to get used to the position.
“When I got appointed vice-captain, there was always a chance that something like this would happen,” Pope said. “It’s not necessarily something you dream about, but it’s one of the greatest honours I see in English cricket. It’s exciting for me, and it’s a chance for us as a team to try and to take a step forward.”
Stokes has been at both of England’s training sessions at Emirates Old Trafford and Pope has welcomed his presence. “It’s still Stokesy’s team,” he said. “Everyone’s pretty clear how they want to go about this week, and this series in general. I think having Stokesy in the changing-room is great.
“If I want to lean on him, I can lean on him, and I think he’s going to let me do my own thing for the course of this Test series as well. I know how well he’s managed our bowlers especially, and I’ve picked his brains a little bit on that. It’s a lot of the same messages from a different voice, and in my own way… He’s going to let me go and do my thing over the course of this series.”
Pope scored 57 runs at Lord’s and then 121 and 51 at Trent Bridge during his successful series against the West Indies in July. However, since the completion of that series, he has only faced 39 balls in competitive matches. He scored 35 runs for London Spirit in the Hundred, and he stated that his brief stint as captain has taught him the importance of compartmentalising his batting.
Pope missed England’s most recent Test in Manchester through injury, when they were thwarted by the rain during last year’s Ashes series, and the forecast is poor again this week. “I’ve not looked too closely at the weather,” he said, when asked if England would consider setting the game up for a result. “Whether it takes us five days or however long, the aim is obviously to go and win the game.”