Ollie Pope – Ashes axing was ‘right decision at the time’

Ollie Pope says the perception that England “weren’t fussed” during the winter’s Ashes was hard to take, but admits they gave fans little reason to believe otherwise given the manner of their 4-1 defeat.

Pope was speaking at Surrey’s county media day after the ECB lifted a gagging order they had put in place to prevent centrally contracted players from discussing events in Australia. It was a move motivated by the continued fallout from that tour, including scrutiny of head coach Brendon McCullum’s position.

At this juncture, it is likely McCullum will remain in his post, with caveats applied that stem from an Ashes campaign in which England were underprepared, and failed to grasp the seriousness of various moments, on and off the field.

“I think the misconception might be that we weren’t as fussed as it came across,” said Pope, who endured a tough tour, averaging 20.83 across the first three Tests before being dropped for Jacob Bethell when the Ashes were lost.

“All we wanted to do was go and win the Ashes. It’s obviously not nice, I guess. But I can understand why people felt that way.

“At the same time, I guess the perception that we weren’t fussed was probably the hard thing. Because, I mean, everyone’s trying to manage with the pressures of an Ashes series like that, and trying to get the best out of their performance and doing what they can.

“Maybe at times it was just trying to, in our minds, take the pressure off the actual Test match, as we’ve done over the previous years. To try and sort of treat it like a normal series, to get the best out of ourselves, and unfortunately it didn’t quite go to plan.

“We want to be a well-liked team, on and off the pitch. Unfortunately, our performance didn’t allow that to happen in Australia.”

Pope’s own future after 64 Tests is uncertain. Bethell has locked himself in for England across all formats after a century in the fifth Test at Sydney – his first in all first-class cricket – followed by 105 in England’s T20 World Cup semi-final defeat to India. It means that, for the first time since the 2022 summer, Pope will begin the County Championship season out of the Test side.

It was four years ago that Pope picked up the phone to Ben Stokes, freshly appointed Test captain, and pitched for the No.3 role. After a steady run, his average in that position has dropped to 39.59, leaving him with an overall figure of 34.55. He also lost the role of vice-captain, to Brook, at the end of last summer.

Sitting out in Melbourne and Sydney gave Pope space to deal with the emotional side of being dropped, something he had also experienced on the previous tour in 2021-22. Introspection has followed as to why his form went awry.

He highlights dismissals in Brisbane (second Test) and Adelaide (third) as moments when he veered from what usually works and got lost in the team ethos of putting pressure back on the bowlers. A tame flick to midwicket off Nathan Lyon in the first innings of that third Test typified that muddle.

“I wouldn’t say there was a massive technical thing, I was probably just too eager to put the bowlers under pressure without necessarily realising it at the time. But when I look back and reflect on it, that’s probably the mistake that I made.

“There are a couple of soft dismissals, probably in the second and third Test, where I look back and I think that’s pretty uncharacteristic for me for when I’m playing well.

“You can process that and that’s logged now. Obviously it’s disappointing to experience that on the highest level when you want it the most.

At a time when Liam Livingstone has criticised the lack of communication with England following his axing 12 months ago, Pope says conversations with McCullum and managing director Rob Key have been “pretty good”. Part of that comes from appreciating he had given them reasons to look elsewhere.

“I guess I knew where I stood,” he said. “Getting dropped is tough. I didn’t want to get dropped of course, but it was the right decision at the time.

“I just wanted to have an open conversation with Brendon McCullum and then had a call with Rob Key just to see. I know things change between now and the start of the summer, but for me the chats were just ‘go back, score loads of runs’. If I’m not in that XI, can I make sure I’m the best batter in the country? I can take my game to another level, and make sure if something happens, it’s making sure I’m the man to come in.”

That Pope is unsure whether he will continue to push his case as a No.3 batter speaks to Bethell’s fine winter and the situation at Surrey as they look to reassert their dominance after their three-title streak was broken by Nottinghamshire. Their campaign starts away to Warwickshire on April 3, when Pope could shift down the order to four, alongside fellow England team-mate Jamie Smith in the middle order, in pursuit of easier early-season runs to restate his case.

“I still feel I can become a better player to bat at No.3 if something were to happen. But we’ll see how the next few weeks pans out and going into the season.

“My summer, I’m not 100% sure what it looks like going forward. We’ve got a block of seven games for Surrey in the Championship, so I just want to make sure my game keeps improving, my game keeps developing, for if and when the England stuff comes around again.

“It’s different when you’re not constantly playing in the Test matches. To have a block like this, I can go back to what really works well for me and make sure my game is in as good a place [as it can be].

“I’ve played a lot of Test cricket now. Sisty-four Tests, I still feel like my best batting years are to come. That, for me, is to make sure I make the most of the experiences that I’ve had, as well as this time to kick on now.”

Vithushan Ehantharajah is an associate editor at ESPNcricinfo

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