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England's stand-in Test captain, Ollie Pope, is pleased to "deal with the noise" that has raised concern over his underwhelming set of performances.
Since his debut in 2018, inconsistency has been Pope's biggest flaw that has hindered him from enjoying a purple patch. During the first two Tests against Sri Lanka, Pope averaged 7.50 in four innings with three single-digit scores. Overall, in three matches against Sri Lanka, 191 runs came off Pope's bat at an average of 31.83. The bulk of his total tally came in the first inning of the final Test. He found his groove and produced a spectacle that the fans could behold, even though it came in a losing cause. Before Pope made Sri Lanka's bowling line-up dance to his tune, cricket experts called out Pope for his dry run with the bat. "Been a fair few voices, so nice to block that out and put a score together. Unfortunately, not in a winning cause, but pleased with how I dealt with the noise," Pope said in the post-match presentation. Despite Pope's impressive showing, England had to bite the dust after Pathum Nissanka commanded the entire 219-run chase according to his will. Before Nissanka's impressive showing on Day 4, Sri Lanka left England on the verge of defeat with Lahiru Kumara, Vishwa Fernando and Asitha Fernando's inspirational outing with the ball. It was a spell-binding display from the pace trio that left the hosts looking for an answer that they had no reply to. Sticking to their line and length, using everything from the surface that was on offer, Sri Lanka restricted England to 156. The inspired display from the trio nullified the 62-run lead that England had managed to enjoy after two days of play. "Disappointing third day. We shot ourselves in the foot. They bowled well, credit to them, but we weren't at our best. I wouldn't say complacent, it has been a long summer. We came out with the same intentions, but we didn't capitalise on having a first-innings lead. One of those days where it didn't come off. We played some good cricket during the series, we'll look back on that performance. Over the summer, we've got that balance right, been clinical at times," Pope added. With the way Sri Lanka pacers conducted themselves, it was expected that England would make the 219-run chase a tricky affair. But unexpectedly, Gus Atkinson, Chris Woakes, Olly Stone and debutant Josh Hull delivered a performance that lacked cutting-edge tenacity. The signs of weariness were visibly evident in the body language of all four players, especially Woakes and Atkinson. Pope acknowledged it and gave credit to the duo for their display and said, "Credit to Gus [Atkinson] and Chris [Woakes], six from six this summer, back-to-back Tests are difficult for the fast bowlers. Been a pitch that swung and seamed, only one rough patch well outside off. Keen to try [Bashir], but we recognised seamers were the best option to get a win. We've got some good learnings. Credit to SL, they've pushed us throughout. We're pretty proud, got two series wins and won five Tests. Unfortunately, we couldn't end with a win." (ANI)
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