Ollie Pope has been ruled out of the rest of the Ashes after dislocating his shoulder during the Second Test defeat at Lord’s.
The England vice-captain underwent scans on Monday after suffering the injury while fielding during the first innings of Australia’s 43-run win.
The 25-year-old is set to undergo surgery, ruling him out of the remaining three Tests, including this week’s Headingley contest, which begins on Thursday.
Pope made 42 in England’s reply at Lord's but then aggravated the injury after being told he would have to field in order to bat at No3 in England’s chase, during which he was bowled for three by Mitchell Starc.
“It’s a big blow for us,” England batter Joe Root said on Tuesday. “Ollie has been phenomenal over the past 18 months. He’s stepped up as vice-captain and the more responsibility that has been given to him we’ve got more out of him as a player.
“He’ll be a big miss for us. He’s a hell of a player and a great mind to have in the group – Ben gains a huge amount from having him as vice-captain. Of course it will be a big loss. He’s been an integral part of this team and will continue to be for many more years to come.”
England have decided against calling up a replacement for the Third Test. Dan Lawrence is the only spare batter in Ben Stokes’s squad and, unless England were to rejig their order, would appear in line to play.
The Essex batter has not featured since last spring’s tour of the West Indies and appeared to have fallen off the radar under the new leadership until being recalled for the winter’s tour of New Zealand.
Lawrence has, however, been in decent form of late, with three half-centuries in his last four T20 Blast games and a superb 152 against Warwickshire in his most recent red-ball innings at the end of last month.
The 25-year-old has batted at No3 only four times in Test cricket and averaged just 13, but there is the possibility that Root could be asked to move up the order, having filled that position for significant periods of his Test career.
Asked whether he would be up for the gig, Root said: “I’m up for playing for England. I feel like the last couple of years, I’ve got a very good understanding of my game. I’ve said many times before, it’s my turn now as a senior player to give back to everyone else that had to put up with me as captain for so long and doing it my way. I’m there to go and try to score runs in whatever position that is and try to get us back into this series.”
England are expected to make at least one change to their bowling attack, with Mark Wood in line to make his first appearance of the series and James Anderson likeliest to be rested ahead of the Fourth Test at his home ground Old Trafford, having underwhelmed so far in the series
Moeen Ali may also return after England opted for an all-seam lineup at Lord’s, with Ollie Robinson and Josh Tongue the contenders to make way.
With Nathan Lyon ruled out of the series, Australia will almost certainly hand an Ashes debut to 22-year-old spinner Todd Murphy. It has been more than a decade since Australia went into a Test match without a specialist spinner.
Scott Boland could return to freshen up the seam attack in place of Josh Hazlewood off the back of a short, three-day turnaround.
