“I would be happy to be proven wrong on Pope” – Michael Vaughan on his comments about the stand-in skipper being unfit to lead England

Former England captain Michael Vaughan has said he will be happy to be proven wrong if Ollie Pope proves his mettle as a leader. Vaughan recently said Pope is unfit to lead England. Pope is leading England for the first time in the absence of full-time skipper Ben Stokes.

England has won both the Test matches against Sri Lanka but Pope’s performance has come under scrutiny. Pope returned with scores of 1 and 17 in the second Test match against Sri Lanka at Lords, which the hosts won by 190 runs to take an impregnable lead of 2-0 in the series.

Pope had returned with scores of 6 and 6 in the opening Test match at Old Trafford, Manchester, which the home team won by five wickets.

Pope has looked fidgety with the bat, especially at the start of his innings and he hasn’t been looked comfortable at the crease in the recent past.

“Ollie Pope is the ideal vice-captain for England. Pope is that perfect foil for Ben Stokes. He is a very good guy, trains well, and is a real team man – someone who can give tactical advice when required and is happy in the background. But he is better kept in that role, as vice-captain, than elevated to captain,” Vaughan wrote in his column for The Telegraph.

“Not every vice-captain is going to make a captain. There are also a lot of captains who cannot be vice-captains, myself included. I wanted to be the leader. I wanted to be making the decision. I did not want to be the thoughtful strategist in the background,” he added.

Vaughan reckons Pope is a bit insecure as a leader and the captaincy onus hasn’t come at the right time for him as he is struggling with the bat.

“I would be happy to be proven wrong on Pope. But I think he is someone who is a bit insecure. I can see why they gave him the vice-captaincy to give him a boost, but he really did not need the captaincy at this stage of his career,” Vaughan wrote.

The third Test match between England and Sri Lanka will be played at the Kennington Oval, London from Friday onwards.