London: England batter Ollie Pope believes his side are still evolving and thinks they are capable of scoring 600 runs in one day of Test cricket.
Pope scored his sixth Test century when named Player of the Match in England’s dominant 241-run triumph over the West Indies in Nottingham last week, a contest that saw England score in excess of 400 runs in both innings for the first time in their history.
With a series whitewash over the West Indies now the aim when the third and final Test commences in Birmingham on Friday, Pope has urged his teammates to remain ruthless and continue their climb up the ICC World Test Championship standings.
“There’s a real hunger – there always is a hunger – but now there’s an extra bit in that batting line-up,” Pope said.
“We want to be as ruthless as we can as a batting unit, but still play the way we do because that’s our natural game. Obviously being ruthless is being part of Test cricket as well,” he said.
Pope’s innings of 121 at Trent Bridge came from 167 deliveries, a somewhat patient knock by the 26-year-old in comparison to many of his previous centuries at Test level as England posted a big total of 416 on the opening day’s play, an ICC report said.
England ushered in a new era under coach Brendon McCullum and skipper Ben Stokes when they smashed 506 runs on the opening day of the first Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi in 2022 and Pope thinks similar high-scoring days like that are not beyond his side.
England hold the record for the most runs in one day of Test cricket when they scored 588/6 on the second day of the second Test against India in Manchester in 1936 and Pope believes the current side can eclipse this total.
“I got asked on day one ‘do you get told to play like that?’. No, we don’t. It’s just our natural games and the way we go about it,” Pope said.
“Sometimes we might score 280-300 in a day but that’s OK and probably because we’re reading situations,” he said.
“There might also be a day where we go and get 500 to 600 at some point in the future as well. And that’s a cool thing to have,” Pope added.
