The celebration from the England dressing room, particularly from senior players Ben Stokes and Joe Root showed how much the century meant for Ollie Pope. The batter had recently been subject to severe criticism from both fans and experts alike due to his poor batting performances and captaincy.
However, Pope took it in his stride and silenced the doubters with a record century in the third Test against Sri Lanka at The Oval. Pope’s century came off a beautiful square drive. As soon as the ball crossed the in-field, Pope’s teammates in the dressing room stood up to celebrate and applaud him for his magnificent knock.
Filling in as captain for the injured Stokes, Pope has already led England to a series victory over the Sri Lankans after wins at Old Trafford and Lord’s but arrived at the Oval with questions marks over his form as in the 2 Tests, he had only managed to score a total of 30 runs.
Pope made amends for his poor form with a run-a-ball 103 and in the process ended up becoming the first Test batter ever to hit each of his first 7 centuries against different opponents.
Pope has scored a Test century against South Africa, New Zealand, Pakistan, Ireland, India, West Indies and Sri Lanka to achieve the unique feat. He will be looking to score even more runs when he comes out to bat against the Sri Lankan bowling attack on Day 2.
