Ollie Pope to keep England gloves for second Test against New Zealand
Jacob Bethell continues at number three in an unchanged side.
Ollie Pope will remain England’s stand-in wicketkeeper for the second Test against New Zealand, with Jacob Bethell retained at number three in an unchanged side.
The tourists were forced to make late adjustments after Jordan Cox broke his thumb ahead of the series opener in Christchurch, drafting Bethell in for a debut after Pope agreed to deputise behind the stumps.
Durham’s Ollie Robinson was called up as wicketkeeping cover and was in contention to make his first international appearance at Wellington’s Basin Reserve this week.
But England have opted not to change a winning formula having eased to an eight-wicket victory on the fourth afternoon at Hagley Oval.
Pope gave a solid account of himself with the gloves and hit 77 after shifting down to six in the batting order, while Bethell hit an ebullient 50 not out to finish the game in stylish fashion.
With everything working as planned, England are happy to go in the second Test with the same XI.
Chris Woakes, who will once again lead the attack as Matthew Potts and Olly Stone wait in the wings, praised Pope’s readiness to help rebalance the side.
“He was brilliant last week, stepping into a role he hasn’t done a lot of,” Woakes said.
“They always say when you don’t notice a keeper he’s done a good job and Ollie certainly did that. To step up at short notice like that and do the job he did was fantastic.
“For him to score runs just shows his character, putting his hand up for the team without any fuss and cracking on. To move to number six, get such a good score for us and contribute to a big partnership was massive.”
The second Test begins at 10pm GMT on Thursday.
