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England Test captain Ben Stokes has slammed the critics of stand-in skipper Ollie Pope, who came in for criticism for his poor batting form during the ongoing series against Sri Lanka. After Stokes was relegated to the bench with a hamstring injury sustained at the 2024 Hundred, Pope took over as England captain for the home Test series against the West Indies and Sri Lanka.
While Pope has led the side to five wins in as many Tests, the runs have dried up from his willow in the ongoing Sri Lanka series. The 26-year-old averages only 7.50 in four innings against the Lankans despite the hosts leading the series 2-0.
Talking to ESPNcricinfo, Stokes praised Pope for his incredible job as captain and slammed the English sporting culture.
"Unfortunately, it's just English culture towards sport. There's always got to be someone in the firing line and obviously when you're captain you are more exposed to that. He's won two games out of two in charge. At the end of the day, I think that's the thing that he's concentrated on the most. He obviously wants to be scoring runs and leading from the front. He's openly admitted that," said Stokes.
"People are very quick to jump on anything, to someone who's in the firing line and obviously Pope coming in and being captain whilst I'm injured, you can say he's the easy target there," he added.
Former England captain Michael Vaughan was extremely vocal during the second Sri Lankan Test in his criticism of Pope's ability to lead the side.
"It's like 'short memories people, come on!" - Ben Stokes
Ben Stokes reminded Ollie Pope's critics of his batting exploits against the West Indies only two Tests back and blasted them for their short memories.
Before the Sri Lankan series, Pope had a memorable outing with the bat in the three Tests against the West Indies, averaging almost 60 with a century and two half-centuries.
"I think he's tactically he's done very well. Let's not forget before that first Test against Sri Lanka, he'd come off the back of fifty, fifty and a hundred (57, 121 and 51 in consecutive innings against West Indies). And then he doesn't have one good game and everyone's saying he is out of form. It's like 'short memories people, come on!" said Stokes in the same interaction.
Pope will look to lead England to a sixth consecutive win and a second straight series whitewash in the final Test against Sri Lanka, starting at the Oval on Friday, September 6.
