Ollie Pope says England’s players have accepted the ban on football after the opener Rory Burns was ruled out of the rest of the series against South Africa with an ankle injury.
Burns, who averages 55 this winter, sustained ligament damage to his left ankle during the customary pre-training game of football between the players on the eve of the second Test at Newlands. The 29-year-old will return home in the coming days for treatment with the hope he will recover in time for England’s two-Test series in Sri Lanka in March.
As the Guardian revealed on Thursday, Burns’s injury, coming 13 months after Jonny Bairstow missed two ODIs and a Test in Sri Lanka following a similar football-related mishap, has prompted England’s management to ban football. The decision came after consultation between the coach, Chris Silverwood, and Ashley Giles, the director of cricket, who arrives in South Africa next week.
Despite the hugely popular matches now being banned, Pope, who top-scored with an unbeaten 56 on day one in Cape Town, admitted: “We do understand the reasons. It keeps us going sometimes on long tours but it’s obviously very frustrating for Burnsy and everyone that he’s gone, so we’ll cop that one. We’ll find something else to get us having a laugh in the morning. It’s a freak accident, these things happen and hopefully we won’t have any more.”
The injury to Burns came after a catastrophic start to the tour for England which saw 11 players – including Pope – struck down with a virus before and during the team’s first-Test defeat at Centurion. Jofra Archer is missing this Test with an elbow injury. There are now fears the fast bowler could be ruled out for the rest of the series after England confirmed he was sent for a second scan on the injury on Friday.
“It’s been one of those tours really,” said Pope. “The first game was ridiculous, pretty much everyone getting ill at some point. Unfortunately Burnsy’s injury happened, we’re all gutted for him because it’s a bit of a freak accident, and then Jof’s not playing as well.”
Pope was the only member of England’s top seven to reach 50, despite six batsmen – including Ben Stokes who made 47 – all getting starts. On a true batting pitch, that profligacy could cost the tourists over the coming days.
“It’s definitely a missed opportunity,” said Pope. “I’m sure Stokesy is pretty frustrated as well, as he was playing the aggressor role and I was just getting into my innings and finding my way. It was a shame. He’ll be as annoyed as anyone I’m sure. These things happen and hopefully we can learn from the mistakes we made.
“It’s a good wicket but definitely there’s a little bit in it for the seamers, even with the old ball. There’s definitely something there. We’ll find out how the wicket really is after the next day or two, when both teams have bowled on it. Hopefully we can expose whatever there is in it.”
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