England are right to stick with a settled top six – Bethell should follow the Lara model

Ollie Pope with Jacob Bethell (right) during a nets session at Headingley before the first Test with India. Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA

There always seems to be one man under pressure in England’s batting lineup. The consensus over the winter seemed to be that Jacob Bethell’s emergence had put Ollie Pope’s place at risk. Pope has clung on for the start of the India series and Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum should be very careful before they mess with what is probably the most settled top six of any Test side.

There was speculation about Pope and Zak Crawley before they scored centuries in last month’s game against Zimbabwe, but that performance should have secured their spots for this series at least.