• The forums will be unavailable for a few hours on Saturday 6th June, when they do return they will initially be in a degraded state with some features missing, but normal posting/reading will be possible. The main website will not be affected by these updates.
    New user registrations are currently disabled.
    Some other features of the forum are also currently disabled.

Ollie Pope


But, as I said on the match thread, replaced by whom? Lawrence is next in line, but he is nearly as old and obviously more shit. Some suggest moving Stokes up the order, but with the bat he is a walking disaster at the moment. Root is currently the best batter in the world. I know there is no reason why he couldn’t do that at three, except in his head, but it’s his head not ours. Do you want to risk it? And where is the championship player braying the door down? None I can see.

So come on, those who want to change, simple question. Who?
 
Last edited:
Many a player who has found the step up to International initially a step too far has gone back to county cricket,improved his game and returned to International cricket successfully. Hameed and Jennings could perhaps be in that category. Pope form in county cricket last season was mediocre to say the least -aggregate 206 runs in 10 innings. I can see plenty potential candidates knocking on the door but they require the door to be opened to prove their worth
 
Root 3 drop Pope, put any new player 6 or 7 to give him time to adapt to test cricket.

Even great players like Ponting started there.

If replace Pope and put a new player at 3, will be chucked in the deep end and probably go the same way as Pope.
 
Fleagle said:
But, as I said on the match thread, replaced by whom? Lawrence is next in line, but he is nearly as old and obviously more shit. Some suggest moving Stokes up the order, but with the bat he is a walking disaster at the moment. Root is currently the best batter in the world. I know there is no reason why he couldn’t do that at three, except in his head, but it’s his head not ours. Do you want to risk it? And where is the championship player braying the door down? None I can see.

So come on, those who want to change, simple question. Who?
Click to expand...

There are quite a few options that would be better right now than keeping Pope. Are they elite? Possibly not. Do they deserve to be playing Test Cricket for England and batting 3? Again, possibly not. BUT, not having a ready made, elite level replacement isn’t a reason to keep Pope. It’s exactly the same as when a football manager’s time is up - sometimes you just have to pull the plug for the betterment of the team, even if the next incumbent is a risk and there are no guarantees that it’ll work out.

If you want names, there’s a lad down at Surrey in Ryan Patel batting 3 already who averaged more last year than Ollie Pope. Cox did well for Essex at 4, which is a lesser jump than Pope had to make to go to 3. There’s another four or five lads who all bat in the top order for their counties who all did well last season but scoring runs in the Championship seems to mean as little now as it ever has when it comes to England selection. They could always go the radical route of bringing someone like Jennings back and playing 3 openers in the top 3 in whatever order they see fit. It always seemed to me like Jennings was unlucky to not get another chance given how many failures so many other players have been allowed.
 
In his last 30 second innings knocks he has 1 century and 2 50s. In his last 20 second innings knocks he has 1 century and 1 50. In his last 10 second inning knocks he has 1 50

Is it a technical issue that he doesn't adjust to the changing nature of the game/pitch? Is it a fitness issue or is it a concentration issue?

Either way if you could sub cricketers Ollie Pope would be Steed Malbranque and never hear the final whistle
 
brandon said:
There are quite a few options that would be better right now than keeping Pope. Are they elite? Possibly not. Do they deserve to be playing Test Cricket for England and batting 3? Again, possibly not. BUT, not having a ready made, elite level replacement isn’t a reason to keep Pope. It’s exactly the same as when a football manager’s time is up - sometimes you just have to pull the plug for the betterment of the team, even if the next incumbent is a risk and there are no guarantees that it’ll work out.

If you want names, there’s a lad down at Surrey in Ryan Patel batting 3 already who averaged more last year than Ollie Pope. Cox did well for Essex at 4, which is a lesser jump than Pope had to make to go to 3. There’s another four or five lads who all bat in the top order for their counties who all did well last season but scoring runs in the Championship seems to mean as little now as it ever has when it comes to England selection. They could always go the radical route of bringing someone like Jennings back and playing 3 openers in the top 3 in whatever order they see fit. It always seemed to me like Jennings was unlucky to not get another chance given how many failures so many other players have been allowed.
Click to expand...
Some fair calls there, And that was really all I was asking. Give me someone who might be better.

Of those I’d like to look at Patel, but I still think he’s an example of not making a compelling case. It’s not really true that for batters championship form is irrelevant. Both of the last two new boys, Brook and Smith, forced their way in at a time when their championship form was absolutely irresistible. Patel’s at 40s in Division 1. Good but not standout. So it’s still not a no brainer for me like it was when they finally gave up on Bairstow.

And of course, the elephant in the room, the real spare part in the top six at present, is the skipper.
 
Last edited:
I do get the argument with the lack of alternatives but it's obvious this is the best we'll get with pope and eventually you have to move on .he's similar to ramps in the sense or his intensity at the crease
 
No doubt will still be stuck with Popey by the ashes he would not get another game for me seen what his a below average test batsman with a sub standard technique.
 
I agree with most on here that Pope should be dropped some very good arguments and personally think his time should be up.

But I strongly think if we bring someone in from domestic cricket the last thing we should do is chuck them in the deep end at 3.

We simply setting them up to fail, there is no standout candidate waiting and putting whoever at 3 will not work imo.

Even some great test players over the years have started their careers at 6 for example and moved up.

Any new player needs to bat lower to middle order to give them half a chance!
 
Voice of fair play said:
I agree with most on here that Pope should be dropped some very good arguments and personally think his time should be up.

But I strongly think if we bring someone in from domestic cricket the last thing we should do is chuck them in the deep end at 3.

We simply setting them up to fail, there is no standout candidate waiting and putting whoever at 3 will not work imo.

Even some great test players over the years have started their careers at 6 for example and moved up.

Any new player needs to bat lower to middle order to give them half a chance!
Click to expand...
Foakes takes the gloves and move Smith to 3?.. or maybe Brook. Pope didn't give Harry much protection anyway :lol:
 
Voice of fair play said:
I agree with most on here that Pope should be dropped some very good arguments and personally think his time should be up.

But I strongly think if we bring someone in from domestic cricket the last thing we should do is chuck them in the deep end at 3.

We simply setting them up to fail, there is no standout candidate waiting and putting whoever at 3 will not work imo.

Even some great test players over the years have started their careers at 6 for example and moved up.

Any new player needs to bat lower to middle order to give them half a chance!
Click to expand...
I've always believed that at any level of cricket i.e start down the order and move up.
I'd advocate that for McKinney at Durham
 
Parkside said:
I've always believed that at any level of cricket i.e start down the order and move up.
I'd advocate that for McKinney at Durham
Click to expand...
Yeah especially at the very highest level, it’s simply too much to ask imo, to expect someone to come straight from domestic cricket and be a success at test level at 3, only Trott comes to mind in recent times
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top