'Pope's challenge is to find calm at the crease'

I have an enormous amount of time for Ollie Pope.

I first got to know him on England's tour of New Zealand in 2019. Joe Root, then the captain, arranged some evenings for former England players, raising money for charity.

One was a quiz night and Pope was captain of my team. I have called him "skipper" ever since and here he is captaining England. He is very chatty, very polite, always with something to say. Put simply, he's a really nice guy.

The role of a vice-captain, in any team, is an interesting one. Often that player is a foil to the captain, a different kind of character so the two bounce off and complement each other. Sometimes the vice-captain is the one the players confide in, or seek information from.

The vice isn't always the right man to be the next captain, either. Just because someone is a good vice-captain, that doesn't necessarily make them a great leader. Marcus Trescothick was actually Nasser Hussain's vice-captain before Michael Vaughan took on the captaincy, and England made absolutely the right decision in promoting Vaughan.

For Pope, the move to make him vice-captain to Stokes followed their recent history of succession planning around a young batter. Until Harry Brook came along, Pope seemed nailed on to be England's next Test captain, but it's probably not as straightforward now.

Still, when Stokes' hamstring injury ruled him out of this Sri Lanka series, England were correct to turn to Pope.

As a leader, he has done a fine job. In both Tests, at Old Trafford and Lord's, there have been times when the conditions were benign, batters set and the bowlers in need of inspiration. Pope has had to think hard to come up with plans to find wickets. He can do no more than have two wins from two Tests, albeit if a 100% failure rate with the DRS system needs some work.

Inevitably, a new captain's performance with bat or ball will also come under scrutiny. You are still in the team to score runs or take wickets and, often, a skipper will experience a spike in their output.

That has not been the case for Pope, who has contributed just 30 runs in his four innings as captain. The problem for Pope is not the lack of runs, but the way he has been getting out and how he has looked at the crease, neither of which have been different to how he batted before the captaincy came along.

Pope's position at number three is suited to a calm personality because of the range of different situations a player can find themselves in.

Pope, though, does not give off that feeling of calmness. Everything seems jittery, frantic and rushed.

At this point, I should say that the game is littered with lots of successful players who arrived at the crease as a ball of energy. Kevin Pietersen was famous for a 'Red Bull run' at the start of his innings and, back when I was playing, Derek Randall would come to the middle chatting away. As a bowler, I was always told not to say anything to Derek, because a conversation would calm him down.

Pope's challenge is to find that serenity. Can he play his first 20 deliveries happy in his own mind that the bowler might be on top? Can he give himself the chance to get set at the crease?

When he does, we know he is capable of playing match-winning innings. His 196 in the first Test against India in Hyderabad earlier this year was one of the greatest knocks ever by an England player overseas.

England will be patient with him. He is captain for the final Test at the Oval and when he returns to the ranks I would be stunned if he does not get all of the three Tests in Pakistan and three in New Zealand before Christmas to find his best form. They will be desperate for him to succeed.

In looking for that calmness, Pope can do no better than the man next to him in the batting order.

At Lord's, Root scored his 33rd and 34th Test hundreds, surpassing my Test Match Special colleague Sir Alastair Cook as the man with the most centuries for England.

It is incredibly difficult to compare players from different eras, but Root's numbers speak for themselves. He is absolutely outstanding in every facet of batting: front foot, back foot, pace, spin. He really does have every base covered.

As far as the summer is concerned, everything has gone to plan for England, with the exception of the injury to Stokes.

They have five wins from five Tests and the opportunity for the clean sweep in the final match of the series against Sri Lanka at the Oval next week – they haven't gone through a summer winning every Test since 2004.

I expect them to do just that. I can't see anything other than an England win.