England opt for Ollie Pope at No 3 over Jacob Bethell for first India Test

England's Ollie Pope will know there is a viable rival for his shirt waiting in the wings should he struggle for runs at Headlingley.
England's Ollie Pope will know there is a viable rival for his shirt waiting in the wings should he struggle for runs at Headlingley. Photograph: Paul Childs/Action Images/Reuters
Ollie Pope has retained his England place and will face India in the first Test starting on Friday, the 171 he scored against Zimbabwe last month having proved enough to hold off the emerging challenge of Jacob Bethell.
Bethell's success in Pope's No 3 slot during the three-match series in New Zealand over the winter, when he scored a half-century in each Test and averaged 52, appeared to have made the position his to lose.
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However, the 21-year-old missed the first Test of the summer because of his Indian Premier League commitments, allowing Pope – who had dropped to No 6 in New Zealand while temporarily taking on wicketkeeping duties – to return to his favoured position and enjoy the benefits of incumbency.
Before the Zimbabwe game, Ben Stokes hinted that Bethell would come straight back into the side once he was available, but the England captain later insisted his comments had been deliberately misinterpreted. 'It is unfortunate that you say something and it can get twisted to suit an agenda,' he said.
Though Pope's performance at Trent Bridge is likely anyway to have secured his place at least for the start of this series, that Stokes felt the need to reassure in private him that he remained an integral member of the team would also have made it harder to then drop him. 'It was all good,' Pope said of that conversation. 'It's all noise to us.'
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As expected England have chosen a seam attack with hugely different levels of international red-ball experience in Brydon Carse (who has five Test caps), Josh Tongue (who has three) and Chris Woakes, who has 57, with Stokes contributing in short bursts.
England team (First Test v India, Headingley)
Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir.
On Wednesday Carse admitted there was 'no hiding away' from the callowness of the bowling group. 'Over a number of years England have had Stuart Broad and James Anderson as the two main bowlers, so it is more inexperienced,' he said. 'But a lot of the guys that have come in and played Test cricket over the last couple of years have started off well and that will give them a level of confidence. And someone like Chris Woakes, who has played a lot of Test cricket in different conditions against different teams, he's someone who brings a level of calmness to a group of bowlers.'
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The absence of Broad and Anderson has also been the subject of discussion in the India camp. 'It feels so good when both of them are not there,' said their vice-captain, Rishabh Pant. 'They've been there for England for so many years, but at the same time they have enough ammunition as a bowling lineup. We've got to play our cricket and respect the bowlers and the opposition.'
After the recent retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma this is a new-look India side, now captained by Shubman Gill. 'Obviously it's a new start for us. Definitely big people have left. Yes, there will be a gap,' Pant said. 'But at the same time it's an opportunity for us to build a new culture, or take the culture forward. Sharing knowledge with each other, having that care and love in the dressing room for each other, that's something we're looking forward to. The idea is very simple: look to play positive, brave cricket. You've got to keep finding ways to make your team win.'
While all three of Tongue's previous Test appearances have come at home this will be Carse's first in England after a string of impressive performances over the winter was temporarily halted by an infected toe – an injury that prompted him to briefly consider amputation – that kept him out of the Zimbabwe game.
'Over the years I've watched a number of great games of Test cricket in England, and to be part of this group for the past eight or nine months has been really exciting,' he said. 'A couple of the guys have said this series is something else, that playing Test cricket in England is a different feeling. To be part of this is something I'm very excited about.'

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