“There might be a day where we get 500-600 runs”: Ollie Pope on England’s aggressive batting

Nottingham [UK], July 24 (ANI): England batter Ollie Pope said that the team wants to be as aggressive as possible while batting and believes that scoring 600 runs in a single day is possible for them.

Pope believes his side is still evolving and thinks they are capable of scoring 600 runs in one day of Test cricket.

England’s designated number three scored his sixth Test century when named Player of the Match in England’s dominant 241-run triumph over the West Indies in Nottingham last week, a contest that saw England score in excess of 400 runs in both innings for the first time in their history.

With a series whitewash over the West Indies now the aim when the third and final Test commences in Birmingham on Friday, Pope has urged his teammates to remain ruthless and continue their climb up the ICC World Test Championship standings.

“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.

“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.

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.

England hold the record for the most runs in one day of Test cricket when they scored 588/6 on the second day of the second Test against India in Manchester in 1936 and Pope believes the current side can eclipse 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.