Ben Gardner was at Headingley to witness an Ollie Pope century that kept England in the game against India and kept at bay the questions over his place.
A squirted single through square leg off Jasprit Bumrah felt like a fitting way for Ollie Pope to bring up his ninth Test century, a shot of pragmatic, opportunistic survival, but undeniable in the scorebook. He clenched his fist as his name rang out to the tune of Daddy Cool from the Western Terrace, a statement hundred in a marquee home series finally his. Given the noise in the build-up to the series that had barely been quietened by confirmation of his place in the XI, it will surely sit squarely among his favourites alongside those overseas classics in Port Elizabeth and Hyderabad. At the start of a defining stretch for him and for England, it may yet outdo them for importance.
Pope had played Bumrah as well as any of England’s batters, which is to say, not that well, but what do you expect? He could have been out early, edging him between the cordon in a near-identical fashion to how Zak Crawley had just nicked behind, and he could have fallen for a middling score but was shelled by Yashasvi Jaiswal. It wasn’t a spotless innings – against Bumrah, there is no such thing – but in a way it was all the more valuable and revealing for its faults.
Tempo and temperament have so often been Pope’s issues, the skittish starts and the technique tinkering held against him. Here, he was unflappable. Between the lives, he was never bogged down, but he was also never overly aggressive. His scoring options against each bowler was always clear, with third a particular profitable area, as it often is for Pope, and as it often is at Headingley. Only three of his 13 boundaries came in front of square as he used the pace on the ball and took what was offered to him.
His most likely mode of dismissal was lbw, surviving an umpire’s call review against Mohammed Siraj, and getting a thin edge to a straight Prasidh Krishna ball that would otherwise have had him plumb. It’s an area where he can be targetted, but not an insurmountable weakness, and that aside, he was at ease against India’s non-Bumrah bowlers. Until Joe Root came in, that seemed a formality as the gap between Bumrah and the rest looked like a chasm. It may well prove to be as the series progresses, but as England’s greatest received something of a working over from Siraj, it became clear that Pope deserved credit.
Then there’s the temperament on a macro level. There’s no need to rehash the Bethell v Pope debate here, not least because this hundred has, for the foreseeable future, surely emphatically answered it. But also because what’s written in the media and said in public doesn’t matter if the messaging is clear in the dressing room. Equally, your captain can pay you as many compliments as he likes, if there’s a new superstar on the scene and nearly everyone else in the line-up is immoveable, you’ll know that if the runs dry up the axe will fall.
To come out with all that around him, with one over bowled, the greatest bowler of the modern age with a new ball in hand under cloudy skies, and to just bat is a marvel.
And so now that spotlight moves to Crawley. On another day, it would have been his edge that flew safe and Pope’s that was grasped. But that’s the game, and Crawley can hardly deny he’s had his share of chances. While his success in the 2024 Pataudi Trophy works in his favour, his dismissal today brought his average against India down below 30. Bethell will make his County Championship return tomorrow for Warwickshire, who surely will no longer bat him at No.7. A maiden professional hundred may well come in two Division One rounds between now and the second Tests. If it does, the clamour for his inclusion will only grow. Pope can sleep with the ease only a batter on an overnight score knows, his dreams all the sweeter for knowing it’s no longer his head on the chopping block.
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