Ollie Pope had a terrible record as England’s stand-in Test captain till Thursday. He didn’t win a single toss in four attempts and got 14 DRS calls wrong. He changed both of them in the fifth Test against India at The Oval. Leading England in the absence of Ben Stokes, who got ruled out of the series due to a shoulder injury, Pope won his first toss on a greenish-looking surface to make first use of it and then took a fantastic review to send back India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal early in the innings.
England’s Ollie Pope celebrates after a successful review for India’s Yashasvi Jaiswal lbw wicket off the bowling Gus Atkinson(Action Images via Reuters)
Such was Pope’s record with DRS calls that former England captain Michael Atherton had no doubts that it was another addition to Pope’s long list of disastrous DRS calls. To be fair to Atherton, it did look like Jaiswal had got an inside edge before the ball thudded onto his pads. There was a clear defelction and a double noise. Perhaps that is exactly why umpire Hasan Raza gave it not out.
“Inside edge. The discussion here must be about the two noises. Oh, Pope has gone for it. He has got his last 14 DRS calls wrong, I’m afraid, this will be his 15th,” said Atherton on commentary.
Playing his first match of the series, Gus Atkinson got one to come back in with the angle to the left-hander from around the wicket. Jaiswal was rooted to the crease. A tentative prode did little to stop the ball from hitting his pads. Atkinson and the England slip cordon went up in a spontaneous appeal only to be denied by the umpire.
The bowler, however, seemed confident, and so did Pope. Despite his horrible track record with DRS calls, credit to Pope for trusting his instincts and his bowler so early in the Test match. He signalled for the DRS.
Even as the replays were getting ready, Atherton repeated, “There has to be an inside edge.” The first replay changed everything. There was a huge gap between Jaiswal’s bat and the ball. The ball clipped his front pad and hit his back pad, creating the double noise that confused Atherton and even the umpire.
It was pitching in line, the impact was in line and it was hitting middle and leg. Umpire Hasan Raza was asked to change his decision to out. As soon as the giant screen flashed three reds, Pope turned to the England dressing room, both arms in the air and signalled to Ben Stokes, who could not stop giggling.
One could guess that the entire England team was aware of Pope’s dubious DRS record.
Ahterton accepted his mistake immediately: “Well, he’s got better eyes than I.”
Jaiswal had to take the long walk back for 2 as England got off to a good start in the deciding Test.