Kuldeep Yadav has revealed how India took advantage of Ollie Pope’s impatience to lure him into an impetuous dismissal just before lunch.
Wrist spinner Kuldeep, who claimed a brilliant five-wicket haul on the opening day, had given Pope a beautiful googly in the last over of the morning session, one ball after wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel had predicted the dismissal and said in Hindi: “yeah [Pope] badhega aage, badhega aage”, which translates as “he will get out [of his crease]”.
“Ollie Pope is someone who cannot sit still for long at the crease,” Kuldeep explains. “His style is such that he steps out a lot and tries to dominate the spinners by hitting them to the ground.
“So when you’ve bowled three dot balls, you think about what he’s going to try with the next ball. And it’s a goalie’s job to make it clear what the hitter wants to do. Sarfaraz [Khan] also helped from short leg. And he got off early anyway, so I could easily change [my plan].
“It wasn’t that I planned it [the googly] advance. When I saw him come out I changed it.
Marcus Trescothick, England’s batting coach, admitted that Pope – a notoriously nervous starter who recorded a pair in the last Test in Ranchi – is working to “get into an innings” and “cope with high quality spin” , both of which have been problems. since he scored an extraordinary 196 in the series opener in Hyderabad.
“It’s always a challenge when you’ve just had a pair,” Trescothick says. “He’s got several things we’re working on. He has adapted very well to certain circumstances and certain parts of his game. The more he tests and plays in these environments and tougher conditions, he will improve.”
Trescothick reflected that despite a “tough” day for England, he was not worried about his batsman’s particular approach, but that the Indian spinners had ground them down over the course of a long series. Experienced English middle order Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes all fell at scores of 175 to turn the day in India’s favour, and they have averages in the 20s for the series.
“When you get a wrist spinner with variations you’re obviously in a lot of trouble if you don’t pick him, but he also bowled deliveries that they did pick and they spun and they still managed to miss them,” Trescothick said.
“I wouldn’t say it necessarily scars. I think they have been tested and you know you will always be in this environment. It’s a tough place to come and play, the results show it’s always tough.
“It’s a lack of form and confidence if they don’t score points. There is nothing specific.
“That’s what happens, people go through periods where they don’t score the number of runs.
“Of course you are tested and that is why it is hard work, and that is why match series of five Tests are more difficult than three because you are facing the bowler again and again. It is heavy. But I have no fear or problems with the players or what they have done.
“I’m sure all the batsmen will look at themselves and ask a few questions. Can we do it differently? Can we be better than what we were?”
Trescothick batted away suggestions that this was an ‘end of tour’ performance, saying: ‘we’re more disappointed than anyone. We try to be better and do things differently. We have that positivity in what we do. It won’t affect how we do things. They’re a good enough team, strong enough, and they’re learning from the mistakes they’ve made.”
Trescothick, 48, has made more than 200 appearances for England across formats but played his last professional match in 2019. With Ollie Robinson ill, he and assistant coach Paul Collingwood, 47, found themselves in the bizarre situation of playing alongside Dan as subfielders were listed. Lawrence and Gus Atkinson.
“I’m hopeful that I can never get any further,” Trescothick said. ‘When I do that, I stand on long legs or something. I think Colly is a bit more hopeful than I am. He can’t wait to get there!”
Crawley’s calm authority shows why Pope’s nerves are such a problem
Even for the very best Test batsmen, failure is in the game. Don Bradman ended his Test career with a duck. Almost one in three times a top-six batsman walks to the crease, he is dismissed before making double figures.
And so Ollie Pope, faced with criticism over his tendency to start innings frantically, would be justified in responding that he is hardly alone. Yet the idea that he is extremely vulnerable at the start of his innings is not a myth. In all Tests this decade, the top six batsmen are dismissed for less than 20 in 47 percent of innings. For Pope, the figure now stands at 56 percent: 40 dismissals for under-20s in 76 innings.
After his scintillating 196 in Hyderabad, one of the best ever played by an Englishman abroad, India are aware of Pope’s qualities. In Pope’s first first-class match for seven months, after dislocating his right shoulder during the Ashes, it seemed to mark a new phase in his career – with the vice-captain turning his abundant potential and dazzling shots into regular Test runs.
But since 99 runs in eight innings since the Test, India have also become increasingly aware of Pope’s vulnerability early in the innings. “Ollie Pope is someone who cannot sit still for long,” said Kuldeep Yadav, who had him punched before 11am in Dharamshala. “So when you’ve bowled three dot balls, you think about what he’s going to try with the next ball.” When Kuldeep saw Pope rushing into the over before lunch, he used his great Google, turned the ball away and allowed the batsman to connect only with air.
Pope’s first moments at the crease are often marked by an inescapable sense of frenzy, as Brendon McCullum acknowledged before the final Test. “He tries to be as calm as possible when he goes out,” said the England head coach. “For him, the key is not to have played his innings before he goes out, just to be nice and calm and relaxed and go out and be able to take care of himself in that situation. He is aware of that, ultimately that is what everyone is trying to do when they go out and play.”
As McCullum hinted, Pope can give the impression early on that he has already made up his mind about his shot before the ball is bowled, like a poker player who has decided to raise the next card. From his first ball in the second innings at Ranchi, when he had a pair, Pope moved back, seemingly intent on getting off the mark with a single into the leg side: Ravichandran Ashwin’s delivery did not turn as much as the batsman had expected. trapping him, lbw. If this had been planned in advance, Pope, like Helmuth von Moltke, teaches that “no plan survives contact with the enemy.”
But perhaps the biggest concern is less about Pope’s bad start than who he starts badly against. Dharamshala is Pope’s 18th Test against India or Australia. Against the two best teams in the world he now has an average of just 22.1 and has passed 50 only twice in 34 innings. Against the best fast bowlers working at 90 miles per hour, or against top-order spin, Pope is yet to find a method to get him regular runs, rather than brilliant bowling every now and then.
McCullum once said of Crawley that his role was to ‘chase big moments’ and that he was ‘never going to be a consistent type of cricketer’. But that description now seems better reserved for England’s number three.
Crawley and Pope were born just 32 days apart in 1998. Their Test careers are intertwined: Crawley now playing his 44th Test, Pope his 43rd; Crawley’s average is 33.1, Pope’s is 34.3. But since the start of last year’s Ashes, Crawley has averaged 49.3, Pope only 29.7.
While England crave a No. 3 capable of great moments, they also need one with the durability to prevent wickets from falling into clumps and exposing the middle order. Perhaps Pope could even take some advice from a man who has developed consistency to match his sharp shooting: Crawley.