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Michael Vaughan, a former captain of England, expressed his happiness at being refuted over Ollie Pope’s qualifications as a leader. Simultaneously, Vaughan maintained his belief that Pope is an unstable leader. In England’s 190-run victory over Sri Lanka at Lord’s, Pope scored one and seventeen runs. He has only scored thirty runs in four innings this series. There have been concerns about Pope’s fidgetiness when batting and growing criticism of his inadequate leadership skills.
Pope had eight poor reviews, which added fuel to the fire on whether or not he should have been named the England Test captain, even though he rotated his bowlers efficiently and drew up unconventional fields when needed.
“Ollie Pope is the ideal vice-captain for England. Pope is that perfect foil for Ben Stokes. He is a very good guy, trains well and is a real team man – someone who can give tactical advice when required and is happy in the background. But he is better kept in that role, as vice-captain, than elevated to captain.”
“I would be happy to be proven wrong on Pope. But I think he is someone who is a bit insecure. I can see why they gave him the vice-captaincy to give him a boost, but he really did not need the captaincy at this stage of his career. For all the focus on Pope’s captaincy, it will be forgotten when Stokes returns in Pakistan,” wrote Vaughan in his column for The Telegraph.
He also commented on Pope being unsettled and frantic when coming out to bat at number three for England. “Not every vice-captain is going to make a captain. There are also a lot of captains who cannot be vice-captains, myself included. I wanted to be the leader. I wanted to be making the decision. I did not want to be the thoughtful strategist in the background.”
“I hope that Pope fights through his poor run of form. I hope he can find a way of getting that rhythm. In a game’s time, he is not going to be a captain, and it is purely about his batting. Can he find that rhythm and that calmness at the crease?”
“By giving Pope the captaincy now, I think England have given him a pressure that he did not need. It came at a stage when it was looking like he was working out how to bat at No 3 and had done well there against West Indies earlier in the summer. Then he gets thrown the captaincy.”