Ollie Pope is ready to embrace “one of the greatest honours in English cricket” when he captains the Test side for the first time this week, but insists he will not stray far from Ben Stokes’s winning formula.
Pope will lead his country out for the first time against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford on Wednesday and remain in charge throughout the three-match series, which Stokes is missing after tearing his hamstring while playing in the Hundred.
There was mild surprise when Pope was named as Stokes’s first formal vice-captain in May last year, as England overlooked more senior players with an eye on grooming the Surrey man as a potential long-term successor.
The 26-year-old has so far only skippered in tour matches when Stokes has rested himself, and his sole experience of captaining in the County Championship came three years ago.
He has, however, led Surrey in several T20 Blast games this season and believes he is up to the challenge of filling the Stokes void.
It's one of the greatest honours I see in English cricket
“When I got appointed vice-captain a year and a half or so ago, there's always a chance that something like this would happen,” he said. “It's not necessarily something you dream about, but it's one of the greatest honours I see in English cricket.
“It's exciting for me and it's a chance for us as a team to try and take a step forward. We're obviously missing Stokesy the player and Stokesy the leader as well, but it's a good challenge for us moving forward.”
Until now, Stokes has not missed a single Test match since being made full-time captain ahead of the 2022 home summer and the 33-year-old is hoping to be back fit in time for the autumn’s tour of Pakistan.
A 3-0 series win over West Indies earlier this summer took Stokes’s record as captain to an impressive 17 wins from 27 Tests, compared to an infamously poor run of one win in 17 prior to his taking charge.
The all-rounder will be with the squad throughout the series, and while Pope says he has been given licence to do things his own way, he sees no reason to rock the boat.
“It's still Stokesy's team,” he added. “I think everyone's pretty clear how they want to go about this week and this series in general. It's going to be great to have him around. If I want to lean on him, I can lean on him and I think he's going to let me do my own thing for the course of this Test series as well.
“I know how well he's managed our bowlers especially. I've picked his brains a little bit on that moving forward. It's a lot of the same messages from a different voice and in my own way.”
Replacing Stokes the player not been straightforward, with England deciding against calling up another all-rounder or picking the spare specialist batter in their squad in Jordan Cox.
Instead, they have prioritised covering for the captain’s bowling, with Durham seamer Matthew Potts recalled to the side for the first time in a year and both Jamie Smith and Chris Woakes pushed one place up the order.
“We've got guys who can come in and score runs down the order,” Pope explained. “We've obviously got Potts, who scored a first-class hundred this year. Gus [Atkinson] and Woakesy are more than capable with the bat.
“I think in terms of the balance of the team over the course of a three-match series, having only three seamers isn't always the easiest ask.
“It’s a great opportunity to see Potts. Whenever he's pulled on an England shirt he's not let anyone down. He's bowled his heart out and bowled beautifully as well. It's a great opportunity for him coming in.”
