England Vs India 2018: Ollie Pope Replaces Dawid Malan for Lord's Test

Updated - 10 Jan 2019, 01:31 AM

England Vs India 2018, Ollie Pope, Dawid Malan, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Lord's Test

Ollie Pope has done well in the domestic circuit before being introduced for the Lord's Test. Photo Credit: Getty Images.

Table of Contents

Hosts England has made another positive yet bold move by including the likes of young Surrey batsman Ollie Pope in the England side in place of Dawid Malan, for the second Lord’s Test against India. The all-important fixture will commence from 9^th of August in London. So far, England vs India 2018 Test series witnessed a close Edgbaston encounter with both teams giving their best during pressure-cooker situations.

England has made a couple of changes for the second Test. Ben Stokes will miss out due to his court trial in relation to his Bristol incident which took place in Septemeber 2017. However, Pope grabbed the eyes of a selection committee following his remarkable average of 63 in the first-class fold.

Meanwhile, Chris Woakes is also expected to return to the squad in the absence of Stokes. He will miss the Test to face the affray charge after the brawl outside a Bristol nightclub.

Well, the selectors headed by Ian Smith has been taking many bold steps of late. He picked Jos Buttler for the Pakistan Test series and eventually came up with an impressive performance. However, India is a different proposition.

Dawid Malan, England vs India, News — Dawid Malan is optimistic about the remainder of the Tests. Photo Credit: Getty Images.

Another promising star Sam Curran turned out to be the match winner for England. Meanwhile, he also recalled the likes of Adil Rashid back to the Test squad.

Meanwhile coming back to Pope, he has been in excellent form for Surrey in March. He scored a staggering 684 runs at an average of 85.50. It also includes three Test centuries with the top score of 158 runs.

England Vs India 2018: Lord’s Test could witness another young gun.

Ollie Pope had an exceptional start to his career

“Ollie Pope has made an exceptional start to his first-class career,” said Smith on Sunday on announcing the squad.

“He has reached a thousand runs in just 15 matches and is the first division’s stand-out batsman this season. The selection panel believes that Ollie’s performances and character suggest he is well suited to international cricket,” he said.

Tagged:

Ollie Pope