Ollie Pope senses a “real hunger” in England’s batting line-up this summer time and believes the Take a look at group may very well be able to scoring 600 runs in a single day.
Confidence is driving excessive within the camp after back-to-back wins over the West Indies – an innings victory at Lord’s adopted up by a 241-run success at Trent Bridge.
Pope was one among three centurions in Nottingham, adopted by Joe Root and Harry Brook, as Ben Stokes’ aspect grew to become the primary English group in historical past to move 400 in each innings of a Take a look at match.
In December 2022, Pope was one among 4 gamers to achieve three figures as England racked up 506-4 on the opening day of a Take a look at towards Pakistan in Rawalpindi – simply three wanting the world file by a group in at some point, regardless of dealing with simply 75 overs.
Friday twenty sixth July 10:00am
And the Take a look at vice-captain believes the aspect have developed a brand new focus that would see them go even additional into uncharted territory, given the best circumstances.
“I think when Baz [head coach Brendon McCullum] and Stokesy took over, we were a batting unit with, not a lack of experience, but a lack of confidence at the time,” he stated.
“I really feel that everybody has type of grown into their roles and now there’s an actual starvation.
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Pope displays on England’s sturdy begin to their second Take a look at towards West Indies and dissects his excellent efficiency that noticed him attain a century
“There always is a hunger but now there’s an extra bit in that batting line-up where we feel like we can go on to do even better things. At the time it was about building confidence, now it’s about hopefully becoming more and more ruthless.
“Generally we’d rating 280-300 in a day however that is okay and doubtless as a result of we’re studying conditions.
“We saw at Trent Bridge, when the lights were on and it started swinging more that was the time just to manage the game a little bit and that’s something we want to keep getting better and better at.
“However there could be a day the place we go and get 500 or 600 in some unspecified time in the future sooner or later as effectively. That is a cool factor to have.”
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Arsenal and England goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale watches on throughout England’s second Take a look at match towards West Indies and discusses Ben Stokes speaking to the England squad forward of Euro 2024
England haven’t been shy about making massive claims within the period of ‘Bazball’, although their momentum was checked when, after the drawn sequence towards New Zealand and Australia final 12 months, they misplaced 4-1 in India over the winter, prompting a daring revamp of the squad.
Out went file wicket-taker James Anderson, after taking part in in his farewell Take a look at at Lord’s, 100-cap veteran Jonny Bairstow, wicketkeeper Ben Foakes and established No 1 spinner Jack Leach.
The transition to a youthful core has been a optimistic one to date, with Gus Atkinson taking 12 wickets at Lord’s, Shoaib Bashir sealing the sequence with a five-wicket haul within the second Take a look at and Jamie Smith making a brilliant begin as a wicketkeeper-batter.
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Shoaib Bashir’s good second innings five-for at Trent Bridge sealed a sequence victory for England over West Indies
“I think there were some big calls and some tough calls to make on guys, but it feels at the minute that we’ve got a really nice balanced attack and batting line-up as well,” stated Pope.
“We want to give guys confidence and that we’re building the team around them, but at the same time, in international cricket there’s always going to be pressure for spots.
“It has been proven in the previous couple of weeks that the fellows who’ve are available have accomplished fantastically and we will hold constructing from right here.
“I think winning can become a habit and the way we’ve gone about these two games is high class and that’s shown in the results so far.”
England’s Take a look at sequence vs West Indies
Watch day one of many third Take a look at between England and West Indies, from Edgbaston in Birmingham, dwell on Sky Sports activities Cricket from 10am on Friday (first ball to be bowled at 11am).
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