the times | Monday June 13 2022 61
LV= Insurance Second Test: England v New ZealandSport
The nature of cricket dictates that most
batsmen are tinkerers, constantly
fiddling with techniques, guards and
stances (and even bat grips, equipment
and clothing) to adapt to varying
circumstances and conditions. No
match, no innings and indeed no one
ball is the same as the last, and, of
course, there is no use turning up to bat
in Mumbai wearing two sweaters.
But amid the need to deal with these
different challenges, it is easy to think
too much, to overcomplicate matters,
and that appears to have been the case
in recent times as weird theories and
funky coaching have abounded when it
comes to batting.
So here was a case being made for
simplicity by Alex Lees and Ollie Pope.
At last Lees looked like a Test-match
opening batsman because the left-
hander had shelved his predilection for
suddenly moving guard so far outside
off stump that there was no possible way
that he could maintain his bearings.
Against spinners changes can be
made because of the time one has to
adjust, but against the faster bowlers
instinct and muscle memory just take
over.
Therefore it was unsurprising that
Lees was bowled shouldering arms in
his second innings in the first Test, at
Lord’s, having lost the location of his off
external fears about his sustained
suitability at this level, especially at
No 3. But it was a knock laced with
the sort of class everyone in the
game has long recognised, and for that
he has to thank a return to his tried
and trusted method of taking guard
now on middle, rather than using the
fad of off stump that has blighted the
game recently.
On which point it should be noted
that there is a big difference between
standing on off stump and moving
there as a result of a trigger movement,
because the latter is perfectly normal as
you have already moved halfway to
your eventual destination.
So now Pope has been able to access
his favoured off side so much more
easily, as demonstrated by the six runs
that took him to his savoured second
Test century. First there was a lovelyback cut off Henry for four to go to 98
and then a brilliantly run two past cover
to reach the milestone.
There was some delightful
cover-driving in the innings, but
therein lies some cautionary comment
to add to a concern that he is not into
position quickly enough to hook, as
shown by a few top-edges and his
eventual dismissal.
His balance was not always
exemplary — when he is nervous the
dip in his set-up takes his head to the off
side rather than down the pitch, and
then his drives through cover can
skew inside out as his head is outside
his hands.
On Sky Sports Nasser Hussain made
the pertinent observation that often
Pope was moving as he hit the ball,
ostensibly looking for quick singles, but
also betraying that lack of balance. Thatcomes down to the head position. All
else follows.
But when he clipped a Boult
inswinger through mid-wicket for four
you knew that balance was in order. It
was an innings that could be highly
significant in the long term for Pope
and England.
Yes, the pitch is flat and Crawley’s
Test career, with its 267 and 121 as
outliers in 41 innings (he has copped
two good balls in his past two innings, in
fairness), should be admonitory, but
records and career-changing innings
are often made on featherbeds,
proffering confidence for the sterner
trials ahead.
England will certainly hope that is
the case for Pope and Lees, who should
now realise that the top level does not
necessarily require complex intricacies.
The basics remain.STU FORSTER/GETTY IMAGESStokes had backed Pope to perform at No 3 and the batsman repaid the new Test captain’s confidence with an assured 14535
Innings at No 3 for
England by batsmen other
than Root in which no one
has scored a century until
Pope yesterday13
All of Pope’s previous
first-class centuries had
been south of the Thames:
the Oval (9), the Ageas
Bowl (1), Guildford (1),
Port Elizabeth (1)
and Dubai (1)Pope and
Lees benefit
from return
to the basics
stump like some mountain rambler
caught in a foggy storm, but in that
innings we had at least seen a different
Lees in terms of his mindset. He had
made a conscious decision to be
more positive, to look to hit the ball first
and then defend or leave, rather than
vice versa.
As a result, even his defensive shots
appeared more solid, and we saw some
superb driving through the off side,
with Lees playing strokes that appeared
beyond him when he was tentatively
patting balls back in the Caribbean in
the winter.
There were two cover-driven fours
off Tim Southee that were played to
balls of a good length, hit “on the up”,
but Lees was able to do this because he
was pushing his hands back and playing
the ball so late and not chasing it out in
front of him with a crooked bat, as, say,
Zak Crawley can do when he is going
too hard at the ball.
Even if you play the ball late these
strokes can be dangerous, and there
was one drive off Southee that flew
between the slips and gully from that
length, taking Lees to 49, as the ball was
just too wide for him to be in control,
and it was such a shot that ultimately
proved his downfall when driving at
Matt Henry (albeit with a different
angle across him from over the wicket,
whereas Southee had been round the
wicket) to be caught at first slip, with a
century there for the taking.
But Lees had cleared his mind and
looked the part, relishing the battle, as
evidenced by his responses (a flicking
tongue) to Trent Boult’s barbs.
Pope had his errors and alarms on
the way to a fine 145 that will allay a
considerable amount of internal andPositive approach and
turning back
on fads has had
fast results, says
Steve James
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