'Would be remarkable to choose someone else if their last knock was a 170'

'Would Be Remarkable to Choose Someone Else If Their Last Knock Was a 170'

Kaushik Rangarajan

The decision to retain Ollie Pope at No. 3 for the start of the India Test series was an obvious one, according to England captain Ben Stokes. Speaking ahead of the series opener in Leeds, Stokes dismissed any debate surrounding the selection. "The 'big selection' idea didn't come from us," he stated. "It would be remarkable to choose someone else if their last knock was a 170 [171], and that's pretty much all I need to say on that."

Pope, who scored 171 in England's last Test, will stay at no. 3. © Getty

Speculation arose around Jacob Bethell potentially taking the No. 3 position, particularly after the tour of New Zealand last year, where Pope moved down the order to cover as wicketkeeper. Bethell, debuting in New Zealand, achieved half-centuries in each of the three Tests but was absent from the Test against Zimbabwe due to his commitments with Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL.

Pope's innings of 171 off 166 balls against Zimbabwe, although his eighth Test century, did not completely quell the debate surrounding his selection for this series. This is partly attributed to some inconsistency in his past performances. While he delivered a remarkable 196 against India in a comeback victory in Hyderabad 15 months prior, this was followed by a series of lower scores before he rebounded during the home summer, where he also served as interim captain. Overall, Pope holds an average of 43.06 in the position he has occupied since Stokes assumed the captaincy in 2022.

Stokes acknowledged the prevalence of speculation in the modern game. "In this day and age it's very tough to not see all that kind of speculation and stuff around it just because of how easily accessible things are. You don't even have to go and hunt for it to see it these days," Stokes said of Pope. "But I think scoring 170 in his last Test match has sort of shown how well he's handled that extra scrutiny."

Looking forward to the series, Stokes downplayed concerns about the inexperience of his bowling attack. He emphasized the importance of Chris Woakes, returning to the team, to take a leadership role on a Headingley pitch expected to favor seam bowlers, especially given the current injury concerns and recent retirements. "I think this is correct but since me and Baz [McCullum] have been captain and coach, I don't think we've actually lost a game with Woakesy in the team so again that just proves how much of a valuable cricketer he is to any team that he's turned out for."

Stokes elaborated on Woakes's capabilities. "I think him being the leader of the attack, he's going to thrive off that responsibility and yeah he's a quality cricketer... you know the relentlessness that he has with the ball, whether that be new ball or old ball, and then having his ability with the bat down at number eight obviously, that's a plus."

Addressing the topic of experience, Stokes remarked: "I think like experience is experience.... Obviously it's spoken about a lot, but I see at the end of the day, whether you've played 100 games or five games, it's the skills that are the most important, valuable thing when you come out to play any form of cricket. Brydon's [Carse] had an unbelievable start to his international career in all formats to be honest and he's been great for this Test team when he's got the shirt, so I don't look into that too much."

He also expressed his enthusiasm for the return of Josh Tongue. "And it's great to have Toungy [Josh Tongue] back over you know the injuries that he had for pretty much a year out of the game. So to see him back playing for Notts and doing really well and getting this opportunity again in England, it's very exciting. So yeah, really looking forward to the boys going out there this week."

Furthermore, Stokes dismissed any suggestion that India would be a weaker opponent due to the absence of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and R. Ashwin. He highlighted the depth of talent within Indian cricket, which allows for a rapid transition. "You'll see there's been a lot of said about no Rohit, no Virat and no Ashwin that doesn't mean that we think it's going to be any easier than what it ever is against India. The pool of talent that Indian cricket has is just ginormous so although Virat, Rohit and Ashwin have done amazing things for their country on the field, that doesn't mean that whoever comes in to replace those individuals are going to be any less hard to bowl out or bat against."

Stokes concluded, "Just because of how big the pool of talent is in India and I've spent a lot of time out in the IPL, so I know that there's a lot of it but yeah obviously three massive names three people who have done wonderful things for their country, but it's not going to be any easy for us."