Pope stays as stand-in wicketkeeper for England in second cricket test against New Zealand

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — England opted to keep Ollie Pope as its stand-in wicketkeeper for the second test against New Zealand starting Thursday.

After Jordan Cox broke his thumb ahead of the series opener in Christchurch last week, Ollie Robinson was called up as wicketkeeping cover and was in contention to make his first international appearance in the second test at Wellington’s Basin Reserve.

However, England kept faith with the same team that won by eight wickets on the fourth afternoon of the first test at Hagley Oval, meaning Pope retained the gloves and Jacob Bethell stayed at No. 3.

Pope was solid behind the stumps and hit 77 after moving down to No. 6 in the batting order. Bethell was also impressive on his debut, hitting 50 not out in the second innings.

“They always say when you don’t notice a keeper, he’s done a good job and Ollie certainly did that,” England fast bowler Chris Woakes said. “To step up at short notice like that and do the job he did was fantastic.

“For him to score runs just shows his character, putting his hand up for the team without any fuss and cracking on.”

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England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jacob Bethell, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ollie Pope, Ben Stokes (captain), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Shoaib Bashir.

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket