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England ‘still Ben Stokes’ team’ but Sri Lanka Test offers chance to plan ahead
Ollie Pope goes into the first of three games as England’s Test captain, standing in for the injured Ben Stokes for the series against Sri Lanka, saying it is “still Stokesy’s team”. But he also suggested the next few weeks is a chance to prepare for a future without the 33-year-old all-rounder, who is recovering from a torn hamstring.
“We’ll miss Stokesy the captain and Stokesy the all-rounder,” Pope said, “but for us as a team, in the long term, it’s a good opportunity to test ourselves without him.”
Related: Ollie Pope will strike different tone as captain but England continuity is key
Stokes is unable to play after sustaining a muscle tear while playing for Northern Superchargers in the Hundred this month, but he will be anything but absent. He is with the team in Manchester as he continues his rehab work and is expected to be watching from the dressing room throughout the series.
“That’s a great thing for the changing room to have and me to have,” Pope said. “He’s pretty clear that he wants me to go out and do my thing my own way, but he’s more than happy to talk things through when I want to lean on him. It’s great to have him around. None of the messages are going to be different, we’re not going to play any differently. I’ll just be getting similar messages across, in my own way.”
Dhananjaya de Silva, going into his fourth game as Sri Lanka captain, feels Pope should cope well in his new role: “He’s played quite a few Test matches and he knows what to do.”
While the England camp makes light of Stokes’s absence, Sri Lanka’s captain is hoping it may prove decisive. “With the balance of the side he’s the key player for them,” De Silva said. “We have a good chance.”
Pope, who has been the team’s vice‑captain since last May, has played 24 of his 46 Tests with Stokes in charge and even if he were completely absent the all-rounder’s influence would be significant. “Having the vice-captaincy role has given me the opportunity to get my head around it if this opportunity came about,” Pope said.
“I’ve thought about it on the pitch, watched him closely. I know how well he’s managed our bowlers especially and I’ve picked his brains a little bit on that.”
Though he led Surrey eight times in the T20 Blast this year, Pope has been captain in one first-class game – a County Championship match against Glamorgan in 2021 when, promisingly, he posted the highest score of his career.
“I had a bit of a stint in the T20s,” he said. “I know it’s a different format but the first thing I reminded myself was when it’s batting time it’s batting time and the rest of the time you can be the captain and think a little bit more about the team.
“Harry Brook being vice-captain, he’s got a great cricket brain and guys like Joe Root out there, there’s plenty of experience to bounce a few ideas off.”
Shortly after Sri Lanka arrived on Tuesday at Old Trafford for their final training session they were forced to evacuate their dressing room because a fire alarm was accidentally activated, a moment emblematic of their imperfect preparation. Their players have had a single warmup outing, against England Lions, which they lost by seven wickets.
“The conditions are quite different to Asian countries so I think we wanted to play a few matches, but that’s what we got,” De Silva said. “I’ve no idea why.”
