Ollie Pope believes ‘brutal changes’ at the top are taking England forward

Ollie Pope believes England are benefiting from Brendon McCullum’s decision to discard Jonny Bairstow and push Jimmy Anderson towards retirement this summer.

Anderson, England’s most prolific bowler, was ushered towards the exit after a meeting with the red-ball head coach in April, a development he described as “something I’ve just got to accept” . Over the winter, Bairstow played in the 50‑over and T20 World Cups as well as making his 100th Test appearance in India, but he has not been selected this summer. On Tuesday, the England chief selector, Luke Wright, said the Yorkshireman was “hugely disappointed” to be sidelined.

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But Pope, who is standing in for the injured Ben Stokes as Test captain for the Sri Lanka series, said those decisions had helped “other guys to come in and get a go they’ve deserved”. The primary beneficiaries have been the wicketkeeper‑batter Jamie Smith, who is averaging 59.50 after his first six Test innings, and Gus Atkinson, who has taken 26 wickets in his first four Tests.

Atkinson was identified by the Sri Lanka captain, Dhananjaya de Silva, as England’s most dangerous bowler, ahead of Mark Wood. “The speed doesn’t trouble me but line and length – the opening bowler, he’s bowling one area for 20 or 30 balls, every time,” De Silva said. “That’s the problem we have, with the swinging ball, not pace.”

Pope said of McCullum: “He made some brutal changes that he saw will take the team into a better place. We don’t use the term Bazball, but we play a different style of cricket and that’s something that can keep taking us forward as a team. The way Jamie Smith has played is a credit to him.”

England beat Sri Lanka by five wickets in the first Test at Old Trafford , but were frustrated by a pitch that Joe Root described as “slow and turgid” and an outfield the former captain said was “longer than the semi-rough at most golf courses”. Pope is confident England will find conditions more favourable when the second Test begins at Lord’s on Thursday.

“The most frustrating thing was the outfield,” he said.

“We’re a team that play some positive cricket and you want to get rewarded for your runs. I know it’s the same for both teams, so you can’t complain about it. But the template for us is if the [outfield] is quick, that’s our good way of putting bowlers under some real pressure.

“It’s slightly frustrating, but at the same time it was good for us to challenge ourselves in slightly more subcontinent conditions.

“The nature of the Oval [where the third and final Test will start on Friday next week] is they’ll probably be more English conditions with pretty quick outfields, so hopefully we can make the most of that.”

After being left out of England’s white-ball squads for the series against Australia next month, Dawid Malan has announced his retirement from international cricket at the age of 36. He played 114 times in all formats, rose to the top of the world T20 batting rankings and was in the squad that won the 2022 World Cup in that format.

“Cricket is an industry where almost everyone retires wishing they had done that little bit more. Right now I can say I am genuinely satisfied,” Malan said. “It has not been easy. It may be my nature, but for whatever reason, it has always seemed that I had something to prove and often felt as if I was playing for my place.

“The pressure goes with the territory, but it does take a mental and physical toll. Even so, I look back with pride on what I have been able to achieve.”