• Source:JND
Add as a preferred

England vs Sri Lanka 3rd Test: England's stand-in captain Ollie Pope turned down all the criticism with a remarkable hundred during the third Test against Sri Lanka on Friday.

Pope remained unbeaten on 103 runs in as many balls on the back of 13 fours and two sixes with England posting a total of 221/3 on the first day at the Kennington Oval in London.

This was Pope's first hundred as captain as he returned to form on his Oval home ground.

It was Pope's seventh seventh century in Test cricket.

ALSO READ: Australia Beat Scotland By 70 Runs In 2nd T20I

Interestingly, each of his first seven centuries came against different opponents - a first in the 147-year history of Test cricket.

Pope has become the first batter to hit his first seven Test centuries against all different teams.

Starting his Test career, Pope hit his first Test century against South Africa in January 2020, hitting 135* in an away series. He then smashed his second Test ton against New Zealand, when he made 145 in a home Test series in June 2022.

Later when England toured Pakistan, he hit 108 in a Test in Rawalpindi. Pope hit 205 against Ireland during a one-off Test at Lord's. During England's tour of India earlier in the year, Pope hit his fifth Test century, scoring 196 in the Hyderabad Test. He carried his form in the West Indies series, making 121 in the Nottingham home Test before hitting his seventh against Sri Lanka.

Amid all the criticism, England's regular Test captain Ben Stokes backed Pope, saying that the backlash clearly shows English culture towards sport.

ALSO READ: Taylor Fritz Breezes Past Frances Tiafoe To Reach Maiden Grand Slam Final At US Open 2024

"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," ESPNCricinfo quoted Stokes as saying.

Pope scored a century and two half-centuries in the series against West Indies but couldn't carry his form in the ongoing series against Sri Lanka. He managed to score just 6, 6, 1 and 17 before scoring a hundred.