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“Worried” emails Nick Way. “Am I the only one not taking this victory for granted? It’s a monstrous (and unprecedented) target, but if anyone could chase it down, it would be Matthews, Chandimal and Mendis, so while any of those are still at the crease, England shouldn’t be complacent.”
Worried wouldn’t be the word I use Nick. If Chandimal, Matthews, Mendis and whoever else come to the party with the bat today then it will be great to watch. At the moment, I’m more worried for anyone with day five tickets though.
What Pope needed in this situation was clear: any kind of score, at any kind of speed, that would keep his critics quiet and let him see out the remainder of his three-game captaincy in peace and in credit – and in doing so position himself as the obvious candidate when England are next in need of a full-time leader. But what his team wanted was something different: runs at decent pace, and for their lead to grow quickly enough to allow them to end their innings in the mid-afternoon, to profit from the best bowling conditions of the match, and to be on the golf course by Monday. And Pope chose team.
In his first press conference as captain, Ben Stokes described his vision for the side: “In terms of on-the-field stuff, a great starting point for me is I want to have selfless cricketers who make decisions based on what they can do to win a game.” The manner in which he lost his wicket was a failure for Pope, but it was also an affirmation, proof of something. It was a poor shot, accomplishing the unlikely task of taking a crowded leg-side field out of play only to perfectly find the solitary deep fielder on the off. But attempting it was so obviously against his interest that he has to emerge with some kind of credit.”
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Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2024/sep/01/england-v-sri-lanka-second-mens-cricket-test-match-day-four-live
Author : James Wallace (now) and Rob Smyth (later)
Publish date : 2024-09-01 09:43:23
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