Ollie Pope, England batter has been ruled out from the remainder of The Ashes series following a shoulder dislocation during the second Test at Lord’s, the England Cricket Board informed on Tuesday.
“Scans in London on Monday revealed the full extent of the injury and he will miss the rest of the summer campaign and will require surgery,” the ECB said in a statement.
Despite the injury scare, the English team has roped him in the 15-member squad announced for the third Test starting on Thursday at Headingley. The statement further added that no replacement will be called for the injured Pope. Talking about the series, England trails by 2-0 and another loss will ensure it will fail to regain the Ashes from the Kangaroos.
Pope had collected just 90 runs in the four innings so far at an average of 22.50. Earlier, after sustaining a loss in the Lord’s Test on Sunday, the English cricket team declared a 15-man squad for the third match that will be held at Headingley starting Thursday, July 6. England has Dan Lawrence, who can replace Pope. Veteran all-rounder Moeen Ali too was asked to warm the bench in the second game but he is likely to make a comeback in the forthcoming game.
Talking about the second Ashes Test, England skipper Ben Stokes smashed 155 runs off 214 balls but it went in vain as the visitors defeated the English side by 43 runs to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match ENG vs AUS Ashes 2023 Test series. The Three Lions have now lost back-to-back Test matches against Australia and they will look for revenge in the upcoming Test match, starting from July 6.
England squad for third Ashes Test: Ben Stokes (captain), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.