Ollie Pope says he has a plan against Jasprit Bumrah, and for that to work he has to do something different from what he has done against the Indian pacer in the past. Pope, confirmed to be England’s No.3 batsman for the first Test, spoke about how he wants to “rotate strike and get to the other end” so that Bumrah doesn’t get to bowl “six balls in a row”.
It’s a sensible plan of course, but going by his past, not an easy one. He has played 9 Tests against Bumrah, faced 186 balls, scored 86 runs, and has been dismissed by the Indian seamer five times. The rotation of strike hasn’t been effective. He has been scoreless, with 140 dot balls out of those 186.
This time around, Pope has spoken about his intended tweak against Bumrah. “Maybe getting my trigger in a bit earlier just to give myself a bit more time,” he told England’s The Times. “He’s one of those bowlers that, with his action and where he releases it from, doesn’t necessarily clock the high speeds that some of the guys clock, but it certainly feels like it’s that bit quicker. With the skills he’s got as well, it’s being aware of that.”
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Understandably, Bumrah has been at the forefront in England players’ minds, and also their media. Pope was asked about Bumrah by TalkSport as well and this is what he had to say: “Yeah, it’s a challenge. I think I’ve played him in probably three different series now, and you’re constantly trying to find ways to put him under some pressure. I mean, he can bowl 20 overs in a day — that’s a lot. So, the way we talk about cricket is, you want to absorb pressure when needed, and then, if necessary, try to put a guy under a little bit of pressure.
But that doesn’t mean trying to smash him to the boundary. It could just be a rotating strike. If he’s bowling a good spell, I’m thinking, ‘Right, how can I rotate and get to the other end?’ And my partner’s thinking the same, so he [Bumrah] doesn’t get six balls at you in a row and use all his skills. He’s a highly skilled bowler, one of the best in the world, if not the best,” “There’s no hiding behind that. But I’m sure everyone has different methods to try and nullify his main threats, and figure out their scoring areas. It’s really about keeping it as simple as possible.”
There has been much debate about Pope playing the game, and his tussle with Jacob Bethel for that No.3 spot. England confirmed that Pope would play.
Former England captain Alastair Cook had deliberated on the pair at The Times. “After the winter series in New Zealand, I had Bethell ahead of Pope. My concern about Pope is how often he gets out inside his first 20 balls — it’s happened 36 times in fewer than 100 Test innings — and how agitated he often looks when he starts.
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“Once he gets in, though, he has the ability to score hundreds, and this is the difference with Bethell, who does not have any professional hundreds to his name. My head says you cannot pick someone to bat No3 who hasn’t scored any hundreds, but Bethell does have something about him which impresses me — and a lot of good judges. The reason I’m backing Pope is that he had an opportunity against Zimbabwe and delivered at a time when Bethell was at the Indian Premier League. If Pope doesn’t play, it would send a strange message as well as disrupt the side. Ultimately, Pope — as with Crawley — will be under scrutiny if he has a bad start to the series.”
