Former England opener Micheal Atherton lauds Ollie Pope for playing ‘courageous innings under scrutiny’

Stand-in captain Ollie Pope was under immense pressure ahead of England’s third Test against Sri Lanka at Kennington Oval. Even though the Three Lions managed to win the first two Test matches of the series, he was criticised for his batting and there were doubts if captaincy has put extra pressure on the youngster.

However, Pope managed to hit 153 runs in the first innings of the third Test to silence all the critics. He had barely any support from the other end, but Pope managed to get going and helped England post 325 runs on the board. His knock was highly appreciated and former cricketer Michael Atherton noted that it was a ‘courageous innings’ under a fair bit of scrutiny.

“He has come into the game under a fair bit of scrutiny. There had been some natter about his lack of runs since taking over the captaincy, so I thought it was a courageous innings. "There was the odd sketchy shot but that is inevitable in the conditions. I thought he played enterprisingly, so well played to him,” Atherton told Sky Sports.

Also Read - Stuart Broad heaps praise on Ollie Pope following ton in third Test

Sri Lanka recover well after early jolts on Day 2

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka scripted a good comeback with the bat. Pathum Nissanka gave a good start with the bat, scoring a half-century but like Pope, he barely got any support. Later, captain Dhananjaya de Silva and Kamindu Mendis took control of the situation and hit a half-century each. Due to bad light, England were forced to bowl spin for a long time in the third session of Day 2, which helped the Lankan batters.

Also Read - ‘It's just one of those things that's frustrating’ - Olly Stone on England being forced to bowl spin due to bad light

Sri Lanka posted 211/5 on Day 2 and are trailing by 114 runs. They would look forward to taking the lead but it won’t be an easy task. Meanwhile, the team management is highly impressed with Kamindu and there have been talks of promoting him in the order in the coming series.