Ollie Pope, the England No.3 batter, has been ruled out of the remainder of the Ashes due to a shoulder injury. According to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), Pope dislocated his right shoulder during the second Test for which he will require surgery.
"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. He will work closely with the England and Surrey medical teams in respect of his rehabilitation," the ECB said in a statement on Tuesday (July 4).
Pope sustained the injury while fielding on Day 1 of the second Test at Lord's. He made a diving stop to a shot played by Marnus Labuschagne off Josh Tongue in the 28th over and was seen clutching his shoulder immediately. He went off and did not field for the rest of the innings. He did, however, come out to bat in both innings, scoring 42 and 3.
Pope was cleared by the umpires to bat at No.3 in England's first innings as he had suffered an external injury on the field. However, after he batted in the first essay, the match officials informed Pope that he had to field again in order to bat higher than No.7 in England's second innings.
"We're a bit bewildered by it all, I suppose," England assistant coach Jeetan Patel said. "It's a bit confusing. We assumed that he was asked that he had to be back out on the field or we would have to field with 10 men. And that made no sense. He had to go back out there. It was always going to happen. He's so committed to this team. He was always going to fall on something. And now he's back off."
Pope came out to field in Australia's second innings but seemed to be struggling as he threw the ball underarm from mid-off.
He then tried to make a sliding stop to a shot played by Usman Khawaja off Ollie Robinson but appeared to have aggravated his shoulder injury as he left the field again.
England have not named any replacement for Pope, who is the vice-captain of the team, for the third Test at Headingley which starts on Thursday. In his absence, Dan Lawrence is likely to slot in.
