“Important to block it…”: Ollie Pope responds to Michael Vaughan’s harsh criticism

England stand-in captain Ollie Pope who covered for injured Ben Stokes in the second Test against Sri Lanka at Lord’s has been subject to severe criticism not just for his batting, but also for his captaincy despite the home team’s 190-run win.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan also joined in on the criticism by calling Pope ‘an insecure human being’ and ‘not the kind of personality’ that should captain the England side.

“I don’t like him as the captain. He’s not the kind of personality I’d want as the England captain. He’s quite an insecure human being – a great team guy and person but throwing the captaincy on him has added the pressure. He was doing great at number three,” Vaughan said on Pope.

Pope spoke to the media after England’s series triumph against Sri Lanka and responded to the harsh criticism against him.

“I’m not surprised. Chatting to Stokesy before this series, when you’re captain as well, you’re going to attract a lot more (criticism). To be honest, it is just important to block it out and keep staying close with the people around you. There’s a lot of voices, a lot of guys who want to have their say – some past cricketers as well – and that’s completely fine,” Pope said.

“Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, but it’s important for us as a team and me to stay and keep trusting the people in the four walls, because that’s not going to help me get back into my best form. Sometimes, when you have two bad games, it can feel a lot worse than it is because of the noise that’s surrounding it,” Pope added.

“For me, it’s just trying to stay as level as I can and keep on trusting the people around me, putting my work in, and not really overthinking it, to be honest. When I went and made good runs in that West Indies series, that’s exactly what I was playing like, so there’s no real need for me to get too involved in what people are saying,” Pope concluded.

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