England great Alastair Cook has offered advice to Ollie Pope, who is currently experiencing a slump in form. Cook suggested that Pope focus on hitting the ball straight and staying at the crease for at least half an hour.
Alastair Cook Offers Advice to Struggling Ollie Pope
Pope has struggled to score runs in the ongoing Test series against Sri Lanka, raising questions about his suitability for a leadership role. Despite his captaincy skills, Pope's low scores have put pressure on him.
In an interview with the BBC, Alastair Cook was asked about Ollie Pope's recent struggles with the bat. Cook offered a straightforward piece of advice: Pope should focus on hitting the ball straight and spending more time at the crease to let things work in his favor.
"Well my advice to anyone who's out of form is always, you have to strip your technique back to most simple thing. Forget about trying to change it, and can you hit the ball straight in the nets? That's all I would ever say, watch and hit the ball straight and when you get out there for half an hour, try and bat in the first half an hour, just survive that half an hour, and then everything else comes," Cook advised Pope.
Alastair Cook's Assessment of Pope
Alastair Cook highlighted one of Ollie Pope's previous impressive innings as an example of his talent. Cook emphasized that Pope's recent lack of runs, especially since taking on the captaincy, has made him a subject of intense media scrutiny. He also noted that the pressure on Pope will continue to mount until he starts scoring runs.
"Ollie Pope is a quality player, the 190-odd he got in India, the hundreds he has got, so he can do it. But when you start really in the bottom of your form, when you are really out of form, you really do overcomplicate things. So, I think the best players kind of realize that quicker," Cook added.
"Unfortunately for Ollie Pope, this story that we in the media is what we're talking about because it is the story. He has been given the captaincy and he hasn't scored any runs. So, you have to talk about it and when that keeps on building and building, it adds more and more pressure. So every time he walks out to bat next week at the Oval, the pressure is going to be even more on him," the former England opener concluded.
Pope is England's designated vice-captain in Test cricket and current stand-in skipper in Ben Stokes' absence. In the era of Bazball, he was promoted to the No. 3 slot and played some impressive innings, including a brilliant 196 in Hyderabad earlier this year against India. However, his form declined in the following four Tests, where he scored only 315 runs at an average of 31.50. After his century in Hyderabad, he failed to score any fifty-plus scores in the subsequent four Tests.
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