Leg and off: Does Ollie Pope's excessive criticism make sense?

It has been an interesting tale of two halves for England's stand-in Test skipper Ollie Pope as their home Test summer against the West Indies and Sri Lanka nears its conclusion. The division of the two halves can be interpreted per each one's discretion - captaincy and batting or form with the willow in the first and the second half.

Yet, what cannot be disputed is the presence of his name and criticisms about him from several former England cricketers as captain and batter.

The most scathing have come from former England captain Michael Vaughan, who on the Test Match Special podcast said about his being the captain during the ongoing Sri Lankan series:

"I don't like him as the captain. He's not the kind of personality I'd want as the England captain. He's quite an insecure human being - a great team guy and person but throwing the captaincy on him has added the pressure. He was doing great at number three."

Vaughan also criticized Pope being England's No.3 by saying:

"He has looked so frantic for such a good player. I’m amazed that with all the psychologists and the backroom staff that England have that they can’t just calm him down a little bit and give him more of an opportunity."

Another former England captain Nasser Hussain also had qualms about Pope's batting amidst his struggles in the first two Sri Lankan Tests.

"At the moment, there’s still a bit of bluff from Pope when it comes to batting, and I don't mean that in a negative way. Someone like Kevin Pietersen had natural strut and swagger and wanted to put bowlers under pressure, but Pope is not really like that," wrote Hussain on his column for Daily Mail.

He added:

"He’s more like the emerging Ian Bell before he and Pietersen formed that middle-order bond—a nervy, fidgety figure at the crease. Someone lacking the belief someone with his ability should possess. Pope is still in that stage of trying to convince everyone with the projection of his personality."

More recently, former Australian captain Ian Chappell stated Pope could be a potential weakness in the England side for the 2025-26 Ashes.

"Despite playing a meaningful innings against a moderate Sri Lankan attack, Ollie Pope needs more convincing knocks away from his home ground to prove he's a substantial No. 3 batter. Batting in the middle order, Pope had a poor last tour of Australia and should be considered a potential weakness. It's not just his renowned skittishness that should interest the Australian pace bowlers, there are also some technical flaws that can be exploited," wrote Chappell for ESPN Cricinfo.

Despite the above reservations about Pope, his teammates - Ben Duckett and Ben Stokes recently came to his support by calling the criticisms unwarranted.

Have the criticisms of Ollie Pope been a bit too far-fetched or have they been fair? Let us find out by deep-diving into the numbers and his performances.

# 1 Captaincy

While Michael Vaughan in particular has been vocal in calling Ollie Pope not captaincy material, the evidence have indicated quite the opposite. Despite being thrown in to lead England for the Sri Lankan series with Ben Stokes' sudden hamstring injury in the 2024 Hundred, Pope has looked assured with the results to back him up.

England won the first two Tests against Sri Lanka, which were Pope's first two games as captain, convincingly by five wickets and 190 runs. In both games, the 26-year-old appeared calm and tactically strong even during the rare moments of trouble.

Sri Lanka crossed 300 only once in four innings (326) over the first two Tests, indicating Pope's control of proceedings. Even in the ongoing third Test, England bowled the Lankans out for 263 in their first innings to capture a 62-run lead.

Has he been faultless? No. Despite having Sri Lanka on the ropes, Pope has allowed their bottom five to hang around and score big runs, signifying a lack of killer instinct.

Sri Lanka's recoveries from 113/4 to 236, 95-4 to 326, 87/6 to 196, 60/3 to 292, and 93/5 to 263 in the five innings of this series shows that Pope and his bowlers could not finish the Lankan innings when they were down and out.

And his staunchest challenge is potentially starting now as Sri Lanka are on their way to winning the final Test at 94/1 in a run-chase of 219. Pope has also struggled to get the DRS reviews right, being unsuccessful in all 10 attempts thus far as captain.

Yet, with all that said, Pope has ensured England continued their home dominance by winning the Sri Lanka series in his captaincy.

Verdict: Despite a few issues in closing the opposition's innings, Pope's captaincy has overall been impressive in the Sri Lankan series

#2 Current batting form

Criticism of Ollie Pope's current batting form felt short-sighted and had more to do with intangibles like eye tests and technique than numbers.

The Middlesex batter endured a torrid phase during the first two Sri Lankan Tests, averaging 7.50 in four innings with three single-digit scores. Yet, just before this run, Pope had scored an incredible 239 runs at an average of almost 60 in the West Indies series.

Hence, the slander of Ollie Pope from several quarters for two Tests of low scores felt premature and highly baffling. Yet, the stylish batter took it in his stride to compile a brilliant 154 in the first innings of the ongoing third Test.

The English pitches have also not been easy to combat for anyone not named Joe Root and Pope batting at one-drop has often been in when conditions have been challenging to bat. And still to score at least a half-century in four of the six home Tests deserves no criticism even if he faltered massively in the other two Tests.

Verdict: Criticism of Ollie Pope on his current batting form is highly uncalled for and baffling

#3 Pope's overall Test batting of high peaks and low consistency - A problem?

Where Ollie Pope truly deserves some slack is his overall Test numbers consisting of incredible peaks but low consistency.

Despite the apparent Ian Bell-esque skill and strokeplay, Pope averages only a tick over 35 in 49 Tests. These numbers make for a sorry reading for an English vice-captain batting at the crucial No.3 position.

Yet, to Pope's credit, his numbers only at No.3 in Tests reads an average of almost 43 in 25 Tests.

However, further breakdowns show that the overall average is often built from a few earth-shattering knocks followed by several middling or low scores. A case in point is the India tour before the home summer earlier this year when Pope's 196in Hyderabad was hailed as arguably the best-ever knock by an overseas batter on Indian soil.

Yet, eight consecutive scores under 40 followed as England lost the next four Tests. It has been a similar tale in the ongoing Sri Lankan series with his 154 in the third Test covering up an otherwise poor series, bumping the overall average for the series to almost 32 even if the other five innings have fetched a combined 37 runs at an average of 7.40.

The lack of consistency overall and the string of low scores amidst a few memorable knocks have hampered Pope's impact, resulting in a fair criticism of his overall Test career with the bat.

Verdict: The criticisms of Pope's overall career batting numbers and prolonged lulls certainly make sense.

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In conclusion, while criticisms about Ollie Pope's captaincy and current batting form are questionable, those raising the alarm bells about his overall batting numbers after almost 50 runs are well within their right.

Yet, summing up all three aspects, there is a feeling that Pope may be overly criticized for someone with two centuries in his last five Tests and two wins in as many games as captain.