24 July,2024 07:18 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Ollie Pope (Pic: File Pic)
England's rising star batsman Ollie Pope believes that his side is capable of scoring 600 runs in a single day of the longest format of the game.
In the second test match against West Indies, Ollie Pope registered his sixth Test century following which he was named as the "Player of the Match." The match saw the "Three Lions" go past the score of 400 runs in both innings for the first time in England's history.
With two straight wins, Ben Stokes and Co. will now aim for a series whitewash against West Indies when they clash in Birmingham. Ahead of the final Test match, Ollie Pope urged his teammates to stay ruthless and continue their climb up in the ICC World Test Championship rankings.
"There is a real hunger - there always is a hunger - but now there is an extra bit in that batting line-up," Pope said, as quoted by the ICC.
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"We want to be as ruthless as we can as a batting unit, but we still play the way we do because that is our natural game. Obviously, being ruthless is being part of Test cricket as well," he added.
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Ollie Pope's innings of 121 at Trent Bridge came from 167 deliveries, a somewhat patient knock by the 26-year-old in comparison to many of his previous centuries at Test level, as England posted a big total of 416 on the opening day's play.
England ushered in a new era under coach Brendon McCullum and skipper Ben Stokes when they smashed 506 runs on the opening day of the first Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi in 2022 and Pope thinks similar high-scoring days like that are not beyond his side.
In 1936, England posted 588 for the loss of six wickets against India and also holds the record for the most runs in one day of the Test match. Ollie Pope believes that the current side has the potential to cover this total.
"I got asked on day one, 'do you get told to play like that?'. No, we do not. It is just our natural games and the way we go about it," Pope said.
"Sometimes we might score 280-300 in a day but that is OK and probably because we are reading situations."
"There might also be a day where we go and get 500 to 600 at some point in the future as well. And that is a cool thing to have."
The hosts wrapped up the series-clinching triumph late on the fourth day, with spinner Shoaib Bashir (5/41) claiming the third five-wicket haul of his career to help England dismiss the West Indies for 143 in pursuit of 385 for victory.
It means England now holds a 2-0 series lead in the three-match series against the West Indies.
(With ANI Inputs)
