Former England batting coach Mark Ramprakash has criticised the decision to move Ollie Pope up to number three and Joe Root back to number four, claiming it "defies logic".
England are set to enter a new era this week when they play their first Test under the new head coach and captain pairing of Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes. And it has been confirmed that Pope will bat at three despite never having done so in his entire first-class career.
Root, meanwhile, will bat at his favoured number four spot despite impressing at three in the recent tour of the West Indies. In that series, Root made 289 runs at an average of 48.16, including two centuries.
