Surrey and England nervously await further news on Ollie Pope thigh injury

England and Surrey will nervously await the results of a scan on Ollie Pope’s thigh in the hope that he has not suffered another serious injury.

Pope is sitting out Surrey’s County Championship match against Hampshire – in which Kyle Jamieson has also suffered a muscle injury – and will have a scan later today.

England’s five-match Test series against India starts on August 4 and there are fears over Pope’s involvement due to a tigh strain suffered playing T20 on Friday.

Pope is only 23 but has endured rotten luck with injuries, suffering serious shoulder problems in both 2019 and 2020. The latter injury, and subsequent operation, saw him miss England’s tour of Sri Lanka in January.

After a poor series against New Zealand, there is some uncertainty around England’s batting lineup against India, with Ben Stokes due back from a hand injury and Jos Buttler from rest (although he also currently has a calf injury). That creates a squeeze on positions, with one of Zak Crawley, Dan Lawrence or Pope in line to miss out.

New Zealander Jamieson, the Player of the Match in the World Test Championship final, bowled just six overs on his Championship debut for Surrey before leaving the field. It is unclear whether he will have further involvement in the first of two four-day matches he will play for the county. He was not on the field to take the second new ball this morning.

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