Leeds [UK], July 5 : England skipper Ben Stokes opened up on the absence of Test vice-captain skipper Ollie Pope and the course of action that his team is willing to take in order to cover for it.
Pope initially damaged his shoulder as he dove to stop a ball on day one of the Lord's Test. His injury was further aggravated on day three after the umpires insisted that he should take the field after batting in England's first innings.
"We're obviously devastated for Popey. He's been a huge part of what we've managed to achieve over the last 18 months and obviously, being vice-captain, it's a real shame not only for us but also for him in such a big series," Stokes said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
"Obviously Dan was in the squad as the next batter in, but there were a few more things to consider. I'm not gonna lie, last week took it out of me a little bit, so a big part of it was what would be the best team if I wasn't to bowl a ball in this game, in the worst-case scenario? That doesn't mean I'm not going to bowl, but that was a huge part of the thinking about the team that we picked," Stokes added.
In the absence of Pope, rising star Harry Brook was promoted to the No. 3. So far, the young English batter has made 132 runs in four innings of the Ashes 2023 series.
However, he attracted criticism for a soft dismissal at Lord's after reaching his half-century in the first innings. Stokes, however, said that his promotion to No. 3 and Bairstow's to No.5 had been "pretty simple" decisions.
"Last summer, Brookie was in the squad and was the next player in, and when you've got a player like Brookie, from one to six, he would have come in in any position. We feel that Brookie is a type of player who will just take the responsibility and just crack on with it," Stokes said.
"We obviously want to keep Joe [Root] at four because he's a remarkable player, and Jonny moving up to five was just to get him into the game earlier. The things he did last summer from the No.5 position are quite hard to look past," Stokes signed off.
England will host Australia in the third Ashes Test on Thursday at the Headingley Stadium.
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