Ollie Pope believes England’s batters are ready to unleash a “ruthless” run-scoring spree as they aim for a Test series whitewash against the West Indies. He even suggests they might achieve the remarkable feat of scoring 600 runs in a single day.
England currently leads the series 2-0 after securing an innings victory at Lord’s and a dominant 241-run win at Trent Bridge last week. The win in Nottingham marked the first time England has scored over 400 in both innings of a Test match, with scores of 416 and 425.
The third and final Test between England and the West Indies kicks off on Friday at Edgbaston. Despite having already won the series and reclaimed the Botham-Richards Trophy, Vice-captain Pope assured fans that England’s aggressive approach will not waver.
“There’s always a hunger, but now there’s an extra bit in that batting line-up,” Pope explained. “We want to be as ruthless as possible as a batting unit while playing our natural game. Being ruthless is a key aspect of Test cricket.”
Pope was among three England centurions in the second Test, along with Joe Root and Harry Brook. He acknowledged that there are times when England’s batters will need to “manage the game a little bit more,” but their attacking style has become second nature.
At 26, Pope believes England could potentially break the record for the most runs scored in a single day of Test cricket, thanks to the aggressive ‘Bazball’ style encouraged by coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes.
Sri Lanka holds the record with a total of 509-9 against Bangladesh in July 2002 for the highest number of runs scored by a team in a single day of Test cricket.
England came close to breaking that record against Pakistan in Rawalpindi in December 2022, falling just three runs short. However, Pope is confident they can go even bigger.
“I was asked on day one at Trent Bridge, ‘Do you get told to play like that?’ No, we don’t. It’s just our natural games and how we approach it,” Pope added. “Sometimes we might score 280 to 300 in a day, and that’s fine because we’re reading situations.
“But there could be a day when we score 500 to 600 at some point in the future. And that’s an exciting possibility.”
Credit: BBC Sport
