Ollie Pope has conceded it was "the right decision" for England to drop him during the Ashes in Australia, but that he still believes his best batting years are ahead of him.
Pope was dropped from England's Test side after they lost the Ashes in Adelaide, and was replaced by Jacob Bethell. He was criticised for a series of soft dismissals and his frenetic manner at the crease during the first half of the series, and returned scores of 0, 26, 3 and 17 in the second and third Tests.
"I was probably just too eager to put the bowlers under pressure," said Pope. "When I look back and reflect on it, that's probably the mistake I made. There were a couple of soft dismissals, probably in the second and third Tests, where I look back and I think that's pretty uncharacteristic for me for when I'm playing well. You can process that, and that's logged now. Obviously it was disappointing to experience that at the highest level when you want it the most. But at the same time it's something that, like I said, I still believe my best years are ahead of me."
Pope was replaced by Harry Brook as vice-captain ahead of the Ashes, having captained England in their final Test of the 2025 summer when Ben Stokes was injured. His position as No.3 in the Test side had been under pressure since Bethell impressed at first drop during his debut series in New Zealand. However, centuries against Zimbabwe and India at the start of the summer, as well as scores of 100 and 90 in England's intra-squad Ashes warm-up game at Lilac Hill in Perth, saw him keep hold of his position.
Pope: I didn't want to be dropped, but it was the right decision
With 64 caps under his belt, only Joe Root and Zak Crawley have played more Tests for England over the last five years. However, even with the results of England's Ashes post-mortem yet to be revealed, Pope is currently set to start the Test summer on the sidelines, playing for Surrey in the County Championship.
"Obviously getting dropped is tough," said Pope. "I didn't want to get dropped of course, but it was the right decision at the time. I just wanted to have open conversations with the guys, with Brendon McCullum and then I had a call with Rob Key as well just to see. I know things change between now and the start of the summer, but for me, the chats were 'just go back, score a load of runs' and then if I'm not in that XI, can I make sure that I'm the best batter in the country and I can take my game to another level?
"If something happens, then for me it's trying to make sure I'm the man to come in because, although I've played a lot of Test cricket now at 64 Tests, I still feel like my best batting years are to come."
'We want to be a well-liked team on and off the pitch'
Pope also pushed back on criticism of the environment around England's squad during the Ashes. Several members of the side were photographed drinking during their mid-series break in Noosa, while it was revealed after the series that Brook had been disciplined in the preceding white-ball tour of New Zealand following a night out. The ECB have launched a review into "tour planning and preparation, individual performance and behaviours".
"Going into that series, there's a lot spoken about the preparation of it," said Pope. "As a team, the misconception might be that we weren't as fussed as it came across.
"Of course we want to be a well-liked team, on and off the pitch, and unfortunately our performance didn't allow that to happen in Australia. I can understand why people felt that way, but at the same time the perception that we weren't fussed was probably the hard thing. As individuals, everyone's trying to manage with the pressures of an Ashes series and trying to get the best out of their performance and doing what they can. All anyone wanted to do was to win."
Pope also echoed criticism over the quality of warm-up matches England were offered by Cricket Australia ahead of the series. They played one match against some of the England Lions squad at Lilac Hill in Perth, were conditions were significantly different to those they faced days later at the Perth Stadium.
"I guess the cards that were dealt from Cricket Australia as well, look, it wasn't ideal batting at Lilac Hill because then we go and play in Perth [Stadium] and it's the opposite conditions," said Pope. "But that's the cards you're dealt.
"We did have experiences over previous years where that kind of preparation has worked for us in places like New Zealand, Pakistan, India. I think for me, I learned over the years that I know what I need to be as ready as I can be.
"This is the nature of international cricket now, is I'll do a lot of work on my game before a series and then if we get some warm up games, that's great when we're out there. And I guess the cards dealt from Cricket Australia made it probably slightly tough to get the exact preparation that ECB would have wanted."
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