Ollie Pope Hits Seventh Test Century, Becomes First Player To Achieve THIS Unique Feat
Ollie Pope scores his first Test century at The Oval and becomes the first player to notch seven tons against seven different opponents.
New Delhi: It was a memorable Friday for Ollie Pope, who had managed just 30 runs in his previous four innings since taking on as England captain for the injured Ben Stokes at the series’ start. Making amends in spectacular fashion, Pope scored a century on the opening day of the 0.33 Test against Sri Lanka at his home ground, The Oval. He was on 103 from 103 balls when bad light stopped play, with England chasing a win that was nicely arrange at 221-three.
It was Pope’s seventh Test century, and incredibly, every of his first seven centuries came against a different opponent—a primary in 147 years of Test cricket.
Sri Lanka, two-nil down right at some stage in the three-match series, blew their chance to have the nice thing about overcast conditions and a green-tinged pitch after captain Dhananjaya de Silva often is often called as this will likely be at the toss.
England may need had every other century-maker on Friday, as opener Ben Duckett over again gave away his wicket after reaching 86. Duckett hailed his captain Ollie Pope for shrugging off criticism from figures like former England captain Michael Vaughan, who had questioned Pope about his ability to deal with the twin responsibilities of leadership and batting at No. three.
“It shouldn’t be the case but there has been kind of a fairly good buy of noise around Popey right at some stage in the last couple of weeks,” Duckett told reporters after stumps.
“To block that out and score a superior hundred was so good,” he added following Pope’s 12th first class hundred on his Surrey home ground.
Among the crucial few bright spots for struggling Sri Lanka was the dismissal of Joe Root for 13, previous to tea. Root had scored two centuries in a a hundred ninety-run victory at Lord’s right at some stage in the previous Test and had set a new record for England with 34 Test centuries.
England, who've already beaten the West Indies three-zero this season, in search of their first clean sweep in a house Test series since 2004, when Michael Vaughan’s team won seven in a row.
Then, Ben Duckett got going, smoking successive boundaries off Milan Rathnayake. On the opposite end, Dan Lawrence, who was deputizing as opener for an injured Zak Crawley, made a struggling five before he misjudged a shortish-pitched delivery from Lahiru Kumara.
Ollie Pope, coming off a century against the West Indies at Trent Bridge in July, got underway with a flourish, cutting a loose ball for four after which hooking Kumara for six. Duckett moved to a brisk 0.5-century off forty eight balls, with seven boundaries.
When play got underway again below the floodlights, the umpires soon decided it was too dark to carry on and play was halted for bad light at seventy six-1 off 15 overs to England. After rain delayed the start, play got underway at 1410 GMT.
The following two balls, Duckett smoked Kumara for six over fine leg and high over 0.33 man. With a century in sight, Duckett was out for 86, miscuing a scoop off Rathnayake to wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal to have England at a hundred and forty-2.
“Whilst you play like that for a period you may be in a position to per chance’t as this will likely be kick yourself but I’ve obviously missed out on a Test hundred there,” said Duckett.
“It should be a learning day for me but it’s a shot I’ve been thinking of playing in Test cricket for an extremely long time. It felt like the absolute best option.”
The a ways more significant step forward came when Joe Root fell for 13, off-set by the undeniable fact that 26-year-old Ollie Pope had already enjoyed a slice of luck with a top-edged six off Lahiru Kumara. Root hooked a delivery to fine leg, where Vishwa Fernando managed to carry onto the catch no matter slipping on the wet outfield.
Pope, undefeated on eighty four at tea, drove Asitha Fernando square to bring up his first Test hundred at The Oval in style. He reached it off 102 balls including 13 boundaries and two sixes.
With that hundred, Pope achieved something no other player has done before in his forty ninth Test match: recording his first seven tons against seven different teams.
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