England Indicate Pope to Keep No.3 Spot for Perth Ashes Opener

England is still backing Pope to deliver big in the Ashes, as the upcoming warm-up match against Lions will be his first test to regain the form. It was earlier expected that Jacob Bethell would get an edge over Ollie Pope for the first test selection. However, the latest scenario indicates that England is still placing some trust in Pope for the series opener.

Ollie Pope has struggled in test cricket for quite some time. Due to his continuous bad form, his position came under scrutiny when England started preparing plans for the Ashes. At one point, there were talks that England might drop him from the Ashes squad. Fortunately, this extreme decision found no support, as England retained him with firm confidence for the blockbuster series.

The England vice-captain, Harry Brook, recently said that England will be going hard against the Lions in the upcoming warm-up fixture. He said the idea is backed by Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes, who are basically the chief architects of England’s new aggressive approach in test cricket.

"That was partly what Baz and Stokesy said. We're going hard. We're going to go 100%. We're going to try and beat them. I think we're going to be selecting an XI and playing against another XI, so it's not going to be just a mess-around… It's good preparation playing against some of the best players in England ahead of the Ashes." said Harry Brook.

Keeping this strategy in view, Ollie Pope can once again get a chance at the No.3 position in England’s batting order. His position was initially under threat due to the strong emergence of Jacob Bethell, however, a ray of hope has once again emerged for the young Pope ahead of the upcoming warm-up game.

A recent interview of Marcus Trescothick revealed that England will go with the same Playing XI in the warm-up match that has been consistently featuring in the test matches. This clearly indicates that Ollie Pope will once again bat at the No.3 position, where he has excelled strongly in test cricket.

"I'm presuming the same sort of No.3 we've had for a period of time. I can only say we are a very consistent team in what we're trying to do." said Marcus Trescothick while talking to the media.

He also said that performances in the warm-up game will be monitored, but they will not be seen as a final marker to change the squad for the first Ashes test. This decision has been taken to instill confidence in the players who are currently planning to feature in the Perth test.

"It's definitely not going to change dramatically before the start of an Ashes series because someone puts their hand up by taking five wickets or gets 150. The team has been what it has been for a period of time for a reason, so that when you come to big series, you are more settled and confident going into it." said Marcus Trescothick.