Jacob Bethell at No. 3 ahead of Pope? Atherton dissects England’s future plan for Ashes series vs Australia

“I thought that (the vice-captaincy change) was the most significant bit of news actually, given that the squad was kind of predictable with the exception of [Will] Jacks,” Atherton was quoted as saying by Sky Sports.

“I thought actually that was the bit of news that interested me the most. One, because it may not be the case that Stokes plays all five games. He’s 34 years of age. Five Tests come quickly. The last three come very quickly. In recent times, although he looked in fantastic physical condition against India and bowled as well as he had for maybe six or seven years, he still got injured at the end of it and didn’t quite see that five-Test match series through. So he may not play all five, in which case it’s going to be Brook, not Pope (as captain). But I felt there’s a bit more to it than that,” he added.

Regarding the possibility of dropping Pope from the XI, England managing director Rob Key clarified the air by saying there were no ulterior motives for stripping Pope of the vice-captaincy.

“There are no other ulterior motives other than the fact that we think Harry is the best person to be the vice-captain. There is not an elaborate scheme where if we take the vice-captaincy off Ollie Pope it makes him easier to drop,” said Key.

“It doesn’t matter if you are vice-captain or not; if we don’t feel you are the right person wherever you are batting – whether that’s an opener or at number five – we’ll end up bringing in someone we think can do the job better. At the moment, Ollie Pope is the man in possession and we’ll find out what that XI will be probably two days before (the first Test). We tend to leave the decisions as late as possible. We’ll see a bit more of Jacob Bethell in white-ball cricket. I think we know a fair amount about Ollie Pope, but Jacob will continue to get experience. We’ll just learn more and more the more Jacob plays,” he added.

Reflecting on Key’s comments, Atherton said: “He (Key) suggested there is no ulterior motive as far as the Pope decision is concerned, in the sense that he’s the man in possession at No. 3 and the fact that he’s no longer vice-captain doesn’t mean automatically he’s going to be demoted for Jacob Bethell.

“But I just have an instinct, a feeling in the waters, that they are going to play Bethell. That’s just a guess really, just a kind of instinct you get. I think that decision is kind of rolled into that,” Atherton argued.

“There’s a bit of cricket to play before we get to Perth, obviously for Bethell in the white-ball stuff, not so much for Pope, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Jacob Bethell walk out at Perth at No. 3. In which case, I’d go back to where we were in May and ask the question why he wasn’t brought back to get experience into his legs throughout the summer.”

Dent in Pope’s confidence

Former England captain Nasser Hussain said the whole saga must have dented Pope’s confidence.

“The key line yesterday from Key was ‘we think Harry Brook is a better leader’. That’s quite a strong statement to make. Ollie Pope is a lad I think thrives on confidence. So that may have dented his confidence a bit. But if Stokes is injured now, Harry Brook captains. I wasn’t that fussed about the whole vice-captaincy thing,” he said to Sky Sports.

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