England have three options to solve their Ollie Pope problem

Ollie Pope will be relieved to return to the familiar surroundings of The Oval this week as he attempts to break a slump in form that has brought renewed scrutiny on his place at No 3 in England’s batting line-up.

The 26-year-old has been honest about the struggles of balancing the responsibilities of captaincy with scoring runs, admitting he sought the help of Joe Root to help him “compartmentalise” the two disciplines before last week’s second Test against Sri Lanka.

Whatever Root’s advice was, it didn’t work at Lord’s, Pope scoring just 18 runs across two skittish innings that ended with shots that further exposed his struggles against the short ball.

With the next away Ashes series just 15 months away, Australia’s bowlers will be licking their lips at the prospect of facing a batter whose average against them stands at 15.70.

The captaincy, a job he has taken on for this second Test series of the summer after Ben Stokes’ injury, has affected Pope’s form. In four innings he has scored just 30 runs.

There is no doubt, Pope will be in the team when England travel to Pakistan for a three-Test series next month.

But he really could do with a score in the final Test against Sri Lanka that starts on Friday to quieten down the noise about his future at No 3.

It is a pivotal position that requires its exponent to exude an air of calm authority, particularly if the team has lost an early wicket. This is exactly what Jonathan Trott did for England at his best.

India’s Rahul Dravid, Australia’s Ricky Ponting and Sri Lankan great Kumar Sangakkara were also masters of settling their respective teams from first drop.

Pope, though, is a sketchy starter, his nerves often seeing him back on his way to the pavilion very early in his innings. After his first dismissal at Lord’s, a damning stat emerged about him being out within the first 20 balls in 38 per cent of his innings. Pope at least lasted 38 balls in his second innings but he was still out for 17 following yet another loose shot.

There is no doubting Pope’s ability – witness his 196 against India at Hyderabad earlier this year, an innings widely regarded as one England’s best of all-time in Asia. Yet even in that knock, he initially struggled.

The problem is Pope is averaging just 24.18 since Hyderabad.

Overall, he has struggled against the very best. In 18 Tests against Australia and India he averages 22.50.

England’s two biggest series in the next 18 months are at home to India next summer and away to Australia the following winter.

There’s no reason why Pope cannot turn things around and play a key role in both. Yet the reality is that among England’s top seven batters, his position is the most vulnerable.

There’s not much Pope can do to overcome his nervy starts other than seek more advice from people like Root, England’s greatest batter. Even Root, though, was never comfortable batting at three.

Temperament cannot be taught. Pope may struggle early on in his innings for the rest of his career, but a decent run of form would certainly help settle him down.

Heading into an 18-month period that will define the regime of coach Brendon McCullum and Stokes’ captaincy, that run of form would be welcome sooner rather than later.

It is inconceivable that Pope would be dropped before the end of a year that takes in three more Tests in New Zealand after the series in Pakistan next month, but if his poor run continues, the Bazball brains trust may be forced to act.

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The issue is the lack of viable alternatives at three. Last summer’s Ashes, when Pope’s shoulder injury ruled him out of the final three Tests, illustrated that, with Harry Brook tried there for one innings before Moeen Ali took over for the rest of the series.

Brook is probably good enough to bat at three but why would England move him from his current position at No 5 where he averages 56.88?

A newcomer such as Warwickshire’s Rob Yates might be another option. And could Jonny Bairstow, dropped this summer by England across all formats, make a comeback?

Bairstow has played 14 Test innings at three, memorably scoring a century from there against Sri Lanka at Colombo in 2018. But it is a position from which he averages just 30 in Tests.

Fresh from scoring 160 in the County Championship for Yorkshire last week, Ottis Gibson, his head coach at Headingley, insisted Bairstow could still force England into a rethink.

At 34, time is not on his side, yet unless Pope picks up his form, Bairstow taking on the Aussies in the Ashes again next year might not be as far-fetched a prospect as we think.