Pope credits Lanka, defends England’s approach despite Oval loss

England’s stand-in skipper Ollie Pope denied that his team got complacent during the Oval Test against Sri Lanka, after an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series and having a first-innings lead in this third game. 

“Disappointing not to be on the right side of the result. I don’t think it was complacency at all, it has been a long summer but that has nothing to do with this loss. We came out with the same intent. It was just one of those that didn't come off,” Pope said in the post-match presentation ceremony on Monday (September 9) at The Oval in London. 

“Day 3 we probably shot ourselves in the foot. Credit to Sri Lanka, they bowled well and credit to [Pathum] Nissanka for the way he played. They deserved to win,” he credited the Lankan team which won their first match in England after 10 years. 

Defending his side’s approach in the final Test, where they scored 325 in the first innings and then got bundled out for 156 in the second, the centurion from the first innings, Pope said that they played with the same intent in this game as they have done throughout the summer. 

“We’ve played some really good cricket throughout the series but we’ll take a look at that Day 3 and see what we can come up with. We’ve got that balance right and we’ve been clinical in crucial times.”

Pope went on to credit his seamers for being clinical throughout the series but also discussed learnings from the game. 

“Credit to Gus and Chris Woakes, six from six this summer, when they come back to back it’s not easy for the seamers. They’ve been fantastic.” 

“We got some good learnings from this week. Credit to Sri Lanka as well, they pushed us in this game. But we’ll look back on the summer and be proud.”

Pope, who scored his seventh Test century in this game, was appreciative of the critics egging him on to score big runs. 

“I felt like there’s a fair few voices over the last few weeks but it was nice to drop that out and get some runs. Would’ve been nicer if it came in a winning cause but it was still nice to get some runs.”

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