Stand-in captain Ollie Pope posted his seventh Test century to put England in command in the third Test against Sri Lanka – but survived an umpire review by a fraction on 139 and was almost bowled out shortly afterwards at The Oval.
Deputising for the injured Ben Stokes, Pope continued the emphatic return to form he had found on Friday by reaching 144 not out off 142 deliveries.
The Surrey batter appeared to have been dismissed by Vishwa Fernando’s second ball of the day, only for an umpire review to show the ball had pitched narrowly outside leg stump.
The moment Ollie Pope went to his SEVENTH Test match hundred 💯 PIC.TWITTER.COM/UG9NE9ENQ6
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) SEPTEMBER 6, 2024
“When Ollie Pope went upstairs for the review, I think he was just hoping,” former England captain Michael Vaughan told BBC Test Match Special. “The umpire just giggled when he saw the replay.”
With England on 283-4, Vishwa Fernando then found Pope’s inside edge with a ball which missed leg stump by millimetres as the 26-year-old struck his 19th four of the innings.
Ollie Pope stats
Pope has by far the highest first-class average at one ground for an English player to have played 30 or more international matches.
His average of 84.52 at Surrey is almost 15 more than Mark Ramprakash managed at The Oval.
Ollie Pope picking up right where he left off… PIC.TWITTER.COM/HQIBHVUXWT
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) SEPTEMBER 7, 2024
KS Ranjitsinhji, who played for England between 1896 and 1902, is the next-highest with 66.11 at Hove, followed by Jonny Bairstow, on 51.93 at Headingley.
Pope is the first batter in history to score his first seven Test hundreds against different opposition.
The highest of those was 205 against Ireland, while he scored 196 against India and also enjoyed centuries against South Africa, Pakistan, the West Indies and New Zealand.
1️⃣5️⃣0️⃣⬆️
The runs keep on coming for Ollie Pope 😎 PIC.TWITTER.COM/3PUF9MRQEZ
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) SEPTEMBER 7, 2024
England vs Sri Lanka score
Pope went on to bring up his third Test 150, raising his bat after making the total from 151 balls.
Chris Woakes was then caught by Milan Rathnayake off Dhananjaya de Silva’s delivery with England on 299-6.
