Former England captain and commentator Nasser Hussain believes that middle-order batsman Ollie Pope has benefitted from a small but important tweak in his batting on day 2 of the ongoing fourth Test against India at The Oval on Friday (September 3).
Playing at his home ground, Pope played a brilliant knock of 81 runs off 159 balls to help England take a lead of 99 runs against Team India on Friday at The Oval.
Hussain in his column for the Daily Mail on Saturday: “During the recent Test at Headingley, I watched Ollie Pope batting in the nets, and I was pleased to see that he was standing on middle stump rather than off stump. On Friday at The Oval, we saw the benefits of that small but significant tweak. Pope was quite bullish earlier in the season about sticking to his off-stump method, and I understand why a lot of batters this summer have adopted the method.”
He further wrote, “By all accounts, and even from the county championship matches I've seen myself, there is so much movement off the seam and through the air that they've been trying to protect themselves on the outside edge. The trouble is that can create a problem on the inside edge, which is why Pope has been getting out lbw to the one that comes back.”
The former skipper continued, “But watching Pope in one of Surrey's early games and during the two-Test series against New Zealand in June, I was struck by how much less free-flowing a player he was than when he first came on the scene. By moving across to off stump, he had basically limited his options of scoring on the offside, and his cut shot --once so profitable -- had almost disappeared altogether, because it would have to be a very wide ball to be cut for four when you're standing on off.”
The 53-year-old believed that the bio-bubble life has brought out a tweak in Pope's game and he was happy with his knock at The Oval while saying his next goal should be to move up the order for Surrey.
Hussain wrote, “We've all heard a lot about how hard it has been for the players to cope with life in the bubble, and Pope himself spoke last summer about the stress of waking up in a room overlooking the ground where you made a duck the day before. But bubble life has also allowed the likes of Pope to tinker with his game. Jonny Bairstow also benefited, though in his case he moved slightly more to the offside because he was getting bowled so often. But, in Pope's case, it looks as if a minor adjustment has done him the world of good.”
He concluded, “And that's why I'm so pleased to see Pope batting again with some of the fluency he was showing 18 months ago. Yes, he was a touch frenetic early on, and there were a couple of fiddles outside off stump. And it will also take time for him to rediscover every aspect of his off-side game. But he was scoring more freely all round the wicket than he managed earlier in the summer. The next step for Pope is to get him up the order at Surrey because there will come a moment when England need to move up from No 5. That moment isn't here yet, but it's strange that he has never batted above No 4 for his county. He's too good a player for that - especially now that he looks comfortable at the crease again.”
(With IANS Inputs)
