Former England batter Nasser Hussain backed Ollie Pope’s appointment as the team’s interim captain in place of the injured Ben Stokes for the Test series against Sri Lanka.
Pope was Stokes’ deputy in red-ball cricket and the all-rounder’s injury presented a unique chance for the batter to lead the English team in the series which is set to begin on August 21.
Speaking on the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast, Hussain said: “I think it’s good for Pope to be captain for three Tests, just in case, Ben Stokes does get injured in the future."
He added: "They need other options. Just like when they go to Australia, and they don’t want a bowling attack that’s inexperienced. You don’t want to get there with someone [leading] who hasn’t done it before.
“The feeling with Pope is that it doesn’t come naturally, [whereas] the feeling with Stokes is that cricketing intelligence comes very naturally to him. It feels like he [Pope] was given the vice-captaincy to get him out of that shell, the no. 3 position as well, we believe in you, which I think was the right thing to do.”
Hussain also discussed that the England management under Brendon McCullum would go for innovations rather than going back to the players who were dropped earlier due to form.
“With this regime, in selection, they don’t want to look back, even with their opening combinations. They really don’t want to go back to [Alex] Lees or [Keaton] Jennings or someone, they’re constantly looking forward,” Hussain said.
“They’ll just move up one, [Jamie] Smith can bat a bit higher, [Chris] Woakes can bat a bit higher, and maybe Olly Stone can. They’re [looking for] the younger ones, in the Lions game I noticed the lad Kasey Aldridge. I think that’s someone they maybe keeping an eye on the future.
“The [Shoaib] Bashir selection. They’ll do left-field selections.”
