Ollie Pope must let his runs do the talking to prove he’s heir to Ben Stokes writes LAWRENCE BOOTH, his insistence to do things his way is admirable – but Bazball England know only one method

Since Ollie Pope was appointed Ben Stokes’ deputy in March 2023, and had his measurements taken for the navy captain’s jacket he might one day have to wear, team operations director Wayne Bentley has kept it almost like an item of clothing.

This morning at 10.30am, when Pope steps out like cricket royalty for the toss in Manchester, he will discover how comfortable that fits him, both literally and metaphorically.

In one sense, England’s 82nd captain in 147 years has little to gain. If he beats Sri Lanka, as his team must, Pope will have done so with the team he temporarily inherited while Ben Stokes recovers from a hamstring problem. His insistence that he will do things his way is admirable, but basketball England knows only one way, and Pope is not about to call for a Dunkirk-style retreat.

Lose, and Harry Brook, promoted to vice-captain for this series, may become the favourite to take over when Stokes eventually decides to retire.

The experience Pope is now gaining, of course, should be a useful insurance policy if Stokes’ body fails him again between now and the 2025-26 Ashes.

He also has the chance to calm doubters who fear his promotion may have come about in part because Stokes and Brendon McCullum wanted to make him feel integral to the team as he adjusted to his new role at No.3.

And if Pope is not exactly England’s accidental captain, then he has certainly fallen into a position for which he is almost entirely unqualified.

A first-class match in charge of Surrey three years ago, when he made a career-high 274 in a run-fest against Glamorgan at The Oval, and eight matches recently in the T20 Blast, are not the usual route to the top job in English cricket.

In that sense, Stokes’ presence in the dressing room throughout this series will be a comforting blanket. As Pope said during his morning round of interviews at Old Trafford: “It’s still Stokes’ team.” He is proud, but determined not to get ahead of himself.

But the paradox, as he embarks on what remains, despite the warnings, the opportunity of a lifetime, is that it will be as England’s No.3 that he stands to make the biggest strides over the next three weeks.

New England captains have traditionally turned their honeymoon period into a time of plenty with the bat, and Pope could benefit from replicating the trend.

His Test average of 35.39 is just shy of Stokes’ 35.75, who also has 203 wickets to Pope’s none and an aura few in the basketball world possess. When Stokes speaks, he is listened to; with Pope, oratory is a work in progress.

And although he showed what he is capable of by making a brilliant 196 in the first Test against India in Hyderabad in January, his other nine scores in that series left him with no more than 39. It was, as usual, a case of plenty or scarcity.

His critics point out that he can disappear in big matches: he averaged 24 against India and 15 against Australia. His highest score, meanwhile, is a forgettable 205 against Ireland.

An avalanche of runs against a decent, but not world-class, Sri Lankan attack would not normally settle the argument one way or the other, but scoring runs as captain is another matter entirely.

If Pope can lead from the front, as Graham Gooch and Mike Atherton once did, his stature will grow organically. That, as much as with odd field situations or unexpected statements, is how he can best make his authority clear.

Stokes’ absence means Pope is set to become the latest England captain to take charge of a lopsided side, with the selection of an extra bowler in Matthew Potts ensuring Mark Wood can send in the short, sharp bursts with which he terrorised the West Indies last month.

Sri Lanka boast, at least on paper, a stronger batting line-up than the West Indians, with six of their top seven players averaging more than 40, including No. 7 Kamindu Mendis, who in his three Tests averages 107.

Meanwhile, since the start of 2019, no opener in Test cricket has scored more runs than Dimuth Karunaratne’s 2,923.

And Karunaratne is one of three survivors, along with Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal, of Sri Lanka’s famous 1-0 victory in England a decade ago, when Jimmy Anderson was caught at short leg from the penultimate ball of the Headingley Test.

However, the challenge for a team whose ability is better reflected in seventh place in the Test rankings than fourth place in the random World Test Championship will be to score big runs in English conditions.

They will be helped by former England Test batsman Ian Bell, who has been appointed as the tourists’ batting coach for this series and averaged 76 in his seven Tests at Old Trafford.

But their seven-wicket defeat by the England Lions in their only warm-up game, at Worcester last week, summed up the scale of the task: being bowled out for 139 on the first day was an inauspicious start.

That left their new captain Dhananjaya de Silva, who has started with a trio of wins over Afghanistan and Bangladesh, ruing the lack of further preparation. Such is the fate of the modern touring cricketer.

Still, England will have to avoid complacency against an attack that includes two quick Fernandos: the right-hander Asitha, who took a hat-trick against them in Galle earlier in 2021, and the left-hander Vishwa, who has taken 17 wickets, 13 apiece in this season’s County Championship for Yorkshire.

And in Prabath Jayasuriya, they have a left-arm spinner who already has seven five-wicket hauls in 12 Tests, even if all of them have landed on spinning pitches at home.

Yet for all their talent, the Sri Lankans will do well to push an England side that, with or without Stokes, remains formidable at home. Pope’s task is to keep it that way.