A little plume of smoke may have been visible over ECB towers and a new Pope was selected: Ollie Pope, the 20‑year‑old Surrey batsman who has played 15 first-class games in his life and whose 16th may well be a Lord’s Test against India with the stands heaving.
Ed Smith, the chief selector, who is fast making the announcement of England Test squads worthy of eager anticipation, said of his latest recruit: “Ollie Pope has made an exceptional start to his first-class career. He has reached 1,000 first-class runs in just 15 matches and is the first division’s standout batsman this season with 684 runs at 85. The selection panel believes that Ollie’s performances and character suggest he is well suited to international cricket.”
There will be celebrations at Pope’s county that were conspicuously absent after Smith’s previous eyebrow‑raising selection.
By modern Surrey standards Pope is a late developer: he is five months older than his good friend Sam Curran, who has played almost three times as many first-class games as well as participating in two Test victories. So Curran can help with the introductions if necessary. Alec Stewart, Surrey’s cricket director, will be proud rather than grumpy that his Championship-chasing side has been diminished, though he may be eager that expectations of Pope should not be too extravagant.
Pope is right-handed, naturally aggressive – like most English wicketkeepers although this job is in the safe hands of Ben Foakes at Surrey. He has impressed rapidly on both sides of the world – in London and in Sydney where he played so well in grade cricket for Campbelltown-Camden that he received a glowing mention in the New South Wales parliament.
For Surrey he has been batting at No 6 this summer yet the assumption, given he is replacing Dawid Malan in the squad, is that he will be invited to bat at four for England – an invitation he is unlikely to decline.
That tribute in Sydney highlighted what a “gentleman” he is and that tallies with his reaction to his call-up since he was quick to praise the Surrey academy director, Graeme Townsend, the coach Neil Stewart as well as his coach at Cranleigh School, Stuart Welch. Pope also noted the advantage of playing in front of big crowds at the Oval in his first few games.
“That was massive,” he said. “It made me realise the bigger picture of cricket straight away, that you weren’t just playing for yourself. It’s been awesome seeing Sammy go this week and it makes you realise you can come in as a 20-year-old and have a big impact.”
Sanctioning such a rapid elevation to the Test team might have worried selectors of the past but not any more. Smith is on a roll and shows no inclination to stop. He began in May with the call-up of Jos Buttler straight from the Indian Premier League and Dom Bess, the 21-year-old off-spinner from Somerset; at Headingley in June Curran was introduced to Test cricket. Then for the Edgbaston Test he summoned up Adil Rashid, who had not laid eyes upon a red ball since last September.
All four of these selections have worked out happily so far, though Buttler’s contribution with the bat at Edgbaston did not even reach the dizzy heights of negligible. Bess buzzed with the bat and in the field and picked up a few wickets before being replaced by Rashid who, in an understated way, contributed to the Edgbaston victory, dismissing Virat Kohli once and Ishant Sharma twice. Curran somehow pipped Kohli as man of the match in Birmingham.
Smith’s inclinations are bold but also rational. It seems he has come to the conclusion that the batsmen selected for the Ashes series last winter are not good enough. So he is prepared to take a punt on talented cricketers who just might be, a risk most definitely but surely one worth taking. He has, quite rightly, brushed aside the notion of sticking to a winning side, though that was never possible here since Ben Stokes has other business to attend to this week.
Smith’s explanation for excluding Malan, who endured the agonies of dropping slip catches in Birmingham as well as struggling for runs, was brief and quite brutal: “Dawid Malan drops out of the squad for Lord’s. Dawid has not found his best rhythm this season and it may be that his game is better suited to overseas conditions.” That may be true but it is usually the type of observation restricted to pundits rather than selectors.
Less provocatively, Chris Woakes returns to the squad as a consequence of Stokes’s absence. From this distance it is likely that the last place in the team rests between Woakes and Moeen Ali, assuming that England delay rotating their senior bowlers. In any case, it would spoil the fun to omit any of the 20-year-olds.
England Test squad
Joe Root (Yorkshire), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jimmy Anderson (Lancashire), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Alastair Cook (Essex), Sam Curran (Surrey), Keaton Jennings (Lancashire), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Jamie Porter (Essex), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire)
