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Ollie Pope embraced the challenge of captaining his country to a Test win at the first time of asking, conquering a Sri Lanka side and a Manchester pitch that posed difficult questions.
Pope was relieved to lead England to a five-wicket success at Emirates Old Trafford, the first of three outings as stand-in skipper for the injured Ben Stokes.
He admitted his predecessor was left “bored” at being consigned to a watching brief on the balcony but found his own experience more challenging as the game reached its conclusion.
A fine century from Kamindu Mendis left England chasing 205 in the fourth innings, with scoring tricky due to a slow surface and a turgid outfield.
In the end England, who have established a reputation as arguably the most aggressive team in the world, were forced to take it slow and steady over the course of 58 overs. Joe Root read it better than anyone, spending just over three hours carving out a decisive 62 not out which included just two boundaries.
“I think another day you might see us try and knock that score off in 20 overs fewer but that was the nature of the pitch and a pretty slow outfield as well,” Pope said.
“This is not just a one dimensional team where we want to go out and score quickly. It’s a team where we want to keep reading situations slightly better and try and be as ruthless as we can. It’s not all about just trying to score as fast as we can, it’s about getting the job done as well.
“It was different (being captain) but I enjoyed it. I’ve enjoyed trying to find different ways of taking 20 wickets. I thought I did alright. I’m sure there will be a few people that can say otherwise, but I was pretty happy with it.”
Pope was watched throughout by Stokes but insisted the man whose force of personality has done more than anything to underpin the so-called ‘Bazball’ revolution since taking over two years ago empowered rather than overshadowed his efforts.
“I think he was bored at times. I think he’d much rather be playing but he was great,” said Pope.
“Every now and again I’d probably pick his brain more than him coming to me. He wanted to give me my own space and do it my own way.”
One aspect of Pope’s first week at the helm that could have gone better was his day job at number three. He fell for six in both innings, guilty of a loose shot on day two and a mis-timed reverse sweep in the chase.
“I think that’s probably one thing I can take from this Test – making sure I’m captain when I’m in the field but that when it’s batting time, it’s batting time,” he said.
“That’s just a little learning for me, that I can just draw a line once we’re off the field, get my pads on and have my time to focus on myself because that’s what’s best for the team.”
England will assess the fitness of pace bowler Mark Wood on Sunday after he sat out the final day in Manchester with a thigh injury. Given his importance to the side and history of fitness problems he looks unlikely to be risked next week at Lord’s but no early calls are being made.
“We’re going to see how he pulls up and go from there,” Pope said. “Nothing is set in stone.
“Obviously he’s a bit sore, but fingers crossed he’s all good.”
