“T
hese are good questions,” said Brendon McCullum with a smile. “We will work on that as well.” This was at the end of the recent T20 international series against South Africa and the England head coach, having been asked about his coaching staff for the upcoming Ashes, was now being pressed on his vice-captain for that trip. McCullum duly set a hare running with an answer that praised Harry Brook just a little too much for Ollie Pope’s comfort.
That swap — Brook for Pope as vice-captain — has been confirmed and, predictably, it has increased Pope’s discomfort because now the attention has turned to his No3 spot and the prospect of Jacob Bethell taking it for the first Test in Perth.
Rob Key, England’s director of cricket, may have said there are “no ulterior motives” nor “an elaborate scheme” to remove Pope from the side via this leadership change, but the stark truth is that it is a damn sight easier to drop a player who is not vice-captain, and if the grounds are being laid for such a move then it is hardly the worst piece of thinking from the England management.
Pope has led the team in Stokes’s absence on five occasions, winning three of those Tests
