ENG vs IND 2025: ‘Not a surface to come out swinging’ – Ollie Pope explains Bazball’s no-show on Day 1 in Lord’s Test

On Thursday, July 10, England batted with an extremely conservative attitude during Day 1 of the third Test against India at the renowned Lord’s Cricket Ground in London. This came after Ben Stokes won the toss and decided to bat first. After batting 83 overs, England scored 251/4 at a run rate of slightly more than 3.

Since head coach Brendon McCullum and captain Stokes joined forces, England has been noted for batting aggressively in Test matches, a strategy known as ‘Bazball’. They have frequently scored more than 400 runs in a day, but Thursday was a different story.

Ollie Pope, whose career strike rate is close to 65, batted 104 balls and scored 44 runs.

His relationship with Joe Root vexed the Indian players in the second session, and Shubman Gill and Mohammed Siraj even attempted to bait them into playing aggressively. At the end of the day, Pope, who was removed by Ravindra Jadeja on the first delivery of the final session, stated that the surface was not suitable for attacking cricket and lauded the Indians’ bowling.

“You couldn’t come out swinging on this surface. The Indian onslaught kept their distance and made it difficult to score. It’s not the manner we’re used to putting up a first innings, but I believe 250 for four is a nice number; certainly, we’d prefer more runs. However, the quality of the surface and the manner in which the Indian assault bowled were rather good throughout,” Pope stated in the news conference.

“You might see some more aggressive strokes on a wicket that’s really moving and nipping around – that’s the greatest way to put pressure back on the bowlers. But today required a different strategy,” he added.