"Having him batting at No. 3 for the first time was never going to be straightforward" - Nasser Hussain on England promoting Ollie Pope up the order vs NZ
Former captain Nasser Hussain feels England have a long tryst with a trial and error approach when it comes to finding a batter for the No.3 position. The Three Lions experimented with Ollie Pope up the order on day one against New Zealand at Lord's on Thursday.
The 24-year-old, who has primarily been batting at No.5 so far, could only score seven off 27 deliveries before being dismissed by Kyle Jamieson.
England recently vacated the No.3 spot after newly-appointed captain Ben Stokes restored Joe Root to his original position at No.4. The former captain had promoted himself up the order during the tour of the Caribbean.
The team's hunt for a No.3 continues, especially with Zak Crawley now playing as an opening batter. Apart from Crawley and Pope, the management has tried out the likes of Dawid Malan and Dan Lawrence in the recent past.
Admitting that the search for a new No.3 batter will be ardous, Nasser Hussain wrote in his column for the Daily Mail:
"Having Ollie Pope batting at No 3 for the first time was never going to be straightforward. But this is a structural, long-term problem, and it's not going to be solved overnight. Until that dreadful final session, there were reasons to be cheerful."
Ollie Pope's first-class record batting at No. 3: 0 innings, 0 runs at N/A
Would be a huge gamble for England to throw him in there for the first Test of the summer
England suffered a middle-order collapse in the final session at Lord's. The Ben Stokes-led side lost five wickets in the space of four overs, with only Joe Root registering double figures.
"He also took emotion out of the equation" - Nasser Hussain on Ben Stokes' leadership
After going through one of their worst runs in Test cricket, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) triggered an overhaul. Right from the sacking of head coach Chris Silverwood to the appointment of Ben Stokes as captain, there has been a structural revamp over the course of the last few months.
Praising newly-appointed captain Ben Stokes for taking emotions out of the equation on his first day as skipper, Nasser Hussain wrote:
"Stokes also took emotion out of the equation. Like him, Potts is a Durham lad, and you could see how thrilled Stokes was with each of his three wickets in the morning."
The 54-year-old added:
"But he didn't introduce him straightaway after lunch, when he must have suspected Colin de Grandhomme and Tim Southee would go after the bowling a bit, and gave the task instead to the wise old heads, Broad and Anderson."
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23-year-old debutant Matthew Potts was one of the few positives for England on the opening day. The right-arm pacer struck in his very first over by dismissing Kane Williamson. He ended up with figures of 4/13 and was the most economical bowler on show for the hosts.
At stumps on day 1, England are struggling at 116/7 in reply to New Zealand's 132 runs in the first innings.