Ollie Pope ended the third day at Lord’s as he had the first – in the dressing room with his right shoulder on ice after jarring the joint while fielding, with the England camp reporting they were erroneously told by match officials that if he did not participate in Australia’s second innings they would have to field with only 10 players.
“We haven’t clarified yet with the officials as to why he was told he had to get back out there and field,” Jeetan Patel, England’s spin-bowling coach, said of Pope after Australia ended the day 130 for two, leading by 221 after England lost six wickets for 47 runs in the morning session to be dismissed for 325. “It’s a pretty tough situation when you nearly bust your shoulder. So he had to go back out there and it was always going to happen, wasn’t it?
