Ollie Pope has said he remains hopeful of a return to the England squad after being axed from the side during the 2025-26 Ashes. Pope said his dismissal during the Ashes was the right call as England were eventually beaten 1-4 by Australia. After scoring just 125 runs in six innings in England’s 4-1 Ashes loss to Australia in January, The Pope stayed awaywith Jacob Bethell starting at No.3 for the last two Tests.
Read the full article
At this point, the Pope’s path back to the team remains uncertain Bethell excelled in all three formats of the game in Englandwhich includes the Ashes set in Sydney and 105 against India during the 2026 FIFA World Cup T20 semi-final.
“I guess I knew where I stood,” Pope said.
“Falling is hard. Of course I didn’t want to fall, but it was the right decision at the time.”
Despite the dismissal, Pope said communication with coach Brendon McCullum and director of cricket Rob Key remained clear. The 28-year-old said the aim will be to take his game to the next level and keep himself ready for his chance.
“For me, the huts were just ‘come back, score a lot of runs’,” he said.
“If I’m not in that XI, can I make sure I’m the best batsman in the country? Can I take my game to another level and make sure if something happens, I make sure I’m the man to come in.”
THE POPE REMAINS THE FAITH
It will be the first time since 2022 that Pope will start a County Championship season away from a Test team. This also saw him lose his role as team vice-captain and Harry Brook took over the role.
“I still feel like I can become a better number three bat if something happens,” Pope said. “But we’ll see how they develop over the next few weeks and how they go into the season.
“My summer, I’m not 100 per cent sure what it’s going to look like going forward. We have a block of seven games for Surrey in the Championship so I just want to make sure my game keeps improving, developing if and when the England stuff comes up again.”
“It’s different when you’re not playing Test matches all the time. To have a block like that, I can go back to what really works well for me and get my game in as good a place (as it can be),” Pope said.
During 2025, Pope scored only 602 runs from nine matches at an average of 37.62.
– The end
Published on:
March 18, 2026 12:42 PM IST
