Most England batsmen dislike most Australian grounds, the bouncy old Waca at Perth in particular. It is more unusual for England batsmen to dislike grounds at home.
Nasser Hussain, the former England captain, could not handle Old Trafford and averaged nine in Test cricket there. He was not alone in finding an English ground difficult for batting. A fellow who turned 50 this week, Sachin Tendulkar, played five of his 200 Tests at Lord’s and averaged a mere 21.
It would be beneficial for England this summer if Ollie Pope were to develop more of an affinity with Edgbaston than he has so far.
In his four Test innings, on what has usually been a belter of a pitch, he has mustered 52 runs – and another cheap dismissal on this ground when representing Surrey will not have put him in the most positive frame of mind ahead of the first Ashes Test on June 16.
At his home ground of the Oval, at the opposite extreme, Pope averages almost 100 in first-class cricket; and only a fortnight ago he batted against Hampshire like Joe Root on fire and with even nimbler footwork.
He kept running down the pitch to Hampshire’s fine trio of seamers and seized the match from them with a 91 and an unbeaten and brilliant hundred. So this time Warwickshire’s wicketkeeper stood up.
Their chief bowler early on was not Chris Woakes, who was tidy but not very penetrative, but Chris Rushworth, their burly seamer from Durham, who moved the new ball around in the still damp conditions, but at little more than 80 mph. So Michael Burgess came up in order to pin Pope in his crease, and did so.
Having been confined to barracks, Pope was ready to charge when Rushworth ended his initial probing and Pakistan’s pace bowler Hasan Ali replaced him at the Pavilion End. Ali may be the thinnest and shortest bowler in this contest but he is slippery quick, so Burgess had to stand back and Pope felt entitled to charge. It was a fatal mistake.
Charging 80 mph bowlers is one thing; charging Ali, who is 85-plus, and before Pope’s eye was in, was another. Pope, moreover, after skipping a couple of paces towards the bowler, did not aim through midwicket but through square leg, and he looked out lbw, down the pitch though he was, as the ball was not going over the stumps.
In a match that may well affect the outcome of the championship, these were not the circumstances for dashing brilliance but for grafting and working the ball square. Only two batsmen have reached 50, and both have England potential.
The first was Warwickshire’s left-hander Dan Mousley, who was out for his overnight 55 while his county could add only seven more runs. The second was Surrey’s right-hander Jamie Smith.
Mousley is compact, well-rounded, balanced and was not afraid to skip down the pitch on occasion to disturb the Surrey seamers’ control.
Smith is tall – not tall for a batsman but for a wicketkeeper which he occasionally is – and already skilled at compartmentalising: he can be a white-ball hitter, having hit the fastest 50-over century for the England Lions off only 71 balls, and yet can also keep the ball on the ground, as he did in this mature 57 off 114 balls which has given Surrey a lead of 61 so far.
The first spin was sighted in the final hour of day two when Rob Yates bowled some off-breaks on a tight defensive line to keep Surrey quiet until the second new ball. And there has been no real alternative to banging away with seam from both ends, if the championship has to be staged in April.
Not “Bazball”, more boreball and blockball. Even with four England players in their top five, and probably a future one in Smith, Surrey could score no more than 2.6 runs an over – and Pope paid the penalty for being more ambitious.
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