Ollie Pope reckons England can breach the 600-run mark inside a day’s play in Test cricket while ruling out any let-up in their ultra-aggressive ‘Bazball’ approach with the bat. England hold the record for the most runs scored in a day when they piled up 588 for 6 on the second day of the Manchester Test against India in 1936, and Pope believes the current side under Ben Stokes can eclipse that.
“Sometimes we might score 280 to 300 in a day but that’s OK and probably because we’re reading situations. There might also be a day where we go and get 500 to 600 at some point in the future as well. And that’s a cool thing to have,” Pope was quoted as saying by ‘BBC Sport’.
In December 2022, England smashed 506 runs on the opening day of the first Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi.
England are currently 2-0 up in the three-match Test series against the West Indies after they followed up a victory by an innings at Lord’s with a comprehensive 241-run win at Trent Bridge, Nottingham last week.
The third and final Test starts on Friday at Edgbaston.
The win in Nottingham was the first time England scored 400-plus in both innings of a Test match with totals of 416 and 425. Pope (121 in the first innings) was one of three England centurions in the second Test alongside Joe Root and Harry Brook.
Pope said there might be times England batters will have to “manage the game a little bit more” but that their attacking Bazball style under coach Brendon McCullum and captain Stokes has now become second nature.
“I got asked on day one at Trent Bridge ‘do you get told to play like that?’. No, we don’t. It’s just our natural games and the way we go about it,” Pope said.