‘Mind blowing innings’ -Fans react as Ollie Pope floors Ireland with mindboggling 205 off 208 balls at Lords in one-off Test
England scored 524-4 in the first innings.
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Jun 3, 2023 11:16 am
Ollie Pope (Source: Twitter)
England and Ireland squared off at Lords for the one-off four-day Test match. The Three Lions hit the right notes straightaway after winning the toss and choosing to bowl first. Their bowlers were on the fore as Stuart Broad picked up a five-wicket haul. He was supplemented by Jack Leach who picked three scalps. Matthew Potts also contributed with the ball with two wickets. The batting was a no-show by Ireland as three people got into the 30s. But other than that, there was no significant resistance as they were all out for 172.
In the first innings England showed why they rated ‘Bazball’ highly. They declared on 524-4. The batting lineup contributed right through. Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett gave a booming start as Crawley scored 56 off 45 balls with 11 fours. Ben Duckett got in and converted it into a big innings. The left-hander scored 182 off 178 balls with 24 fours and one six. Ireland were not out of their misery yet as Ollie Pope rooted them to the ground.
Joe Root completed 11,000 runs in Test Cricket and overtook Sir Alistar Cook
The right-hander smashed a stroke-filled, quickfire knock of 205 off 208 balls with 22 fours and three sixes. The Irishmen did not have any answers to the youngster’s assault as they were badly mauled. Pope has been a shining star for England in Test cricket as he has scored 2046 runs in 36 games at an average of 35.27 and at a strike rate of 61.27. In his short Test career, he has scored 11 fifties and four hundreds.
Joe Root also had a good hit out in the middle after his IPL stint as he scored a quickfire 56 off 59 balls with four fours and one six. This was Root’s 58th Test fifty as he reached 11000 runs in the five-day format. He also broke Sir Alastair Cook’s record as he completed the 11000 run mark in 238 innings while Cook took 252 innings to get there. Root became the second Englishmen to get to the landmark after Cook.
England ended Day 2 in a position of dominance as Ireland are tottering at 97-3 and still trail by 255 runs with two days to go in the Test match. The Ashes will commence after the Ireland Test match and The World Test Championship final that will be played at the Oval.
Let us take a look at the reactions on Twitter:
Ollie Pope's improvement since moving up to 3 is remarkable. Averages over 50 in that position. Agreed, needs to get to 3 figures more often but every chance he can transfer brilliant FC form to Tests. Could be a superstar #ENGvIRE#Cricket
— MediumPaceDobbler (@MediumPaceDobb1) June 2, 2023
Josh tongue being made out to be prime dale steyn. This match is a just a stat padder to boost averages. Ollie pope will likely never hit another double ton again facing bowling of 70mph. It’s an absolute disgrace that the @ICC have allowed this to be an official “test” match.
Ollie Pope's double centuries in First Class cricket :-
251 – for Surrey v MCC at Dubai 221* – for Surrey v Hampshire at Oval 274 – for Surrey v Glamorgan at Oval 245 – for Surrey v Leicestershire at Oval 205 – for England v Ireland at Lord's (today)#ENGvIRE
— Rhitankar Bandyopadhyay (@rhitankar8616) June 2, 2023
What a day for England. About as dominant as you can get, ollie Pope is just glorious to watch when he's in full flow. Opposition taken into account but given where we were, it mustn't be taken for granted. Onto tomorrow, let's wrap it up and then onto the Aussies
