Ollie Pope previews England's Second Test against Sri Lanka at Lord's

I think the first time you do anything like that I remember like I said I almost compared it to another debut um I remember after my test debut after day one I was just knacked and we barely we barely did anything I think we fielded it for a few overs so I think um so it's good to get that first one out the way and get that first win on the board and I think yeah like I said it's just about having the two things separate um I've obviously got got time in the Nets where you can go work on your game but then as soon as you're back in the changing room you can go and go and be the captain and the leader um again there so that's something that I've spoken to someone like Joe root about as well obviously um a very very successful England Captain who obviously did Joy root things with the B throughout um so hopefully yeah like I said over the next couple of weeks um I can go and put some good scores together for the team um but yeah I think the first one was probably bit of learning for me and to how to manage the two things separately um but it can also be a positive as well I think engaging your brain in the while you're in the field and sort of field placings and what bowlers and way can also over the course of the next few games potentially be a positive as well so I don't I don't see it as a as a negative on my batting um obviously it's two weeks two more weeks of it um so it's not like I'm staring down the barrel of some some long fatigue it's something that I've really enjoyed so far so yeah hopefully I can like I said reward the runs with some team this week and next week as well absolutely you mentioned Joe there and he does feel like got constant I think it's down to four players now here who were playing in the last test of the last summer lot of reasons for that turn I wonder the challenge of keeping the continuity of the philosophy in the team when the personality changing so much yeah I think we obviously have made some slight adjustments there's obviously been a couple of injuries as well obviously with Stokes and um of Zach up top um and there are just unfortunate injuries that that happen um but at the same time it's a great opportunity for other guys to come in and and get a go that they deserve and have earn as well and and I think obviously the with what br did um leading into this s this summer he made some pretty brutal changes that um that he saw that are going to take the take the team into a better place getting forward and I think we showed last week I know we don't use the term basball but um we we played different style of cricket and I think that's something that can keep taking us forward as a team and and when we can be ruthless we've got to we've got to try and be ruthless just to win as as many games as possible and other days we'll we'll go out and score a little bit more freely and potentially take the wickets um in a shorter amount of time so I think it's a credit to the guys that have come in obviously Jamie Smith as well the way he played in both Innings um is is a credit credit to him and shows that we're really sort of taking this team forward now perhaps the weather they they enjoy it's a serious challenge against this team yeah absolutely I think we don't take any team lightly um even that West Indies series there were there were days in which where they they had really good days and I guess were neck and neck almost after two days and we managed to play the the slightly better Cricket over the course of the five days in each of the test matches so I think that's good that we're getting pushed and like like you said Sri Lanka are impressive last week I think um especially the way they batted um I guess when you come to England you you expect different conditions and I guess the conditions weren't your classic English style pitches but at the same time to go for the guys to go and put together some good scores um and set us a Chase from a 100 deficit is credit to them as well um but I think yeah hopefully we can just keep keep getting better and I'm sure that they'll be they'll be confident and they'll they'll feel strong but if we can play our best Cricket hopefully come out on the right side of the result again oh you mentioned that you've really enjoyed getting getting stuck in Captain see I was just wondering what bits you really enjoying and what bits you maybe not enjoying so much I wouldn't say there's firstly nothing I didn't enjoy about it um it's just different like I said but rather than rather than worrying about your catching and some ideas for Stokes you you you you've got a lot more to think about so that that's a different side of thing I didn't I wouldn't say I didn't enjoy it at all um and I think yeah just the challenge of trying to work with the bowlers to take 20 wickets in the Test match on a pitch that I guess once the ball got past 15 20 20 overs was fairly fairly unresponsive unresponsive off the pitch um so I enjoyed the challenge of that and enjoyed using my Cricket brain to to try and help help the team get those 20 wickets and I think credit to the bowlers for for how they bow and stuck to the plans and like I said I've got some good guys to lean on in that in that changing room and on the pitch to to help me out when I'm out there um so yeah i' I'd like obviously some some more runs over the course of the series but yeah hopefully that's something that's going to come this week and next give you more appetite to do it in future if not for England but for other teams as yeah I'm always always keen on sort of standing up and being a leader for for whatever team I do play for um so yeah like I said this is still stokes's team but it's a great experience for me and uh to hopefully do do really well over the course of this series and also learn some lessons and have some time for reflection after so yeah I enjoy being the leader within the changing room and using using my Cricket brain when I need to as well probably how encouraging has it been to see Ben St back in the Nets over the past couple of days yeah it's been good um he's obviously pretty Keen to he W I mean he wishes he was out there um but no it's a good sign going forward he's obviously still Fair while away off playing and he's not he's not trying to play as a b and a first lip just yet anyway so um no but it's great to see and injuries are never ideal but they're also great chances for people to um keep improving their game and have a little bit of time of reflection and and think about what he can work on in his game and I'm sure that's exactly what he's doing in the Nets and and going into I guess that Pakistan series and then into New Zealand he's going to be as fresh as anyone so it's good to see I think Zach was here yesterday as well as it sort of a conscious thing to try and keep inured guys around the sad so they keep a bit of a fi of things yeah absolutely I guess um it's great it's great to have those guys around obviously Stokes is around for the series and to see Zach yesterday I mean I know he's gutted he's he's not here um playing in these test matches but uh for him to pop in and and catch up with the guys is great and it's good to it kind of shows where we're at as a squad and how we're a tight-knit unit and we want to keep driving that forward because I think that that helps us on the pitch as well you mentioned you asked Joe about sort of advice on captaining and batting what did he say um I think we just spoke about how it's how it is more taxing in the field um but it's just finding a little routine and doing small C things which which not it's nothing massive just finding a way just to I guess once you do get your pads on and sit there waiting to bat is just trying to get into your old routine of of how you do um do go out and bat and people do different things before they bat some watch some don't and those kind of things so it's just it's just making sure that I just keep doing what what has brought success for me over over the last couple of years um and just having that and repeating and it's just you might be a bit fatigued but I think yeah it's it's just it's only positive as well like I said it's not going to be we got two two more weeks of the series so um it's not like I'm saying I'm I'm fatigued about it but it's just yeah just finding a way to compartmentalize the to and Trant to rout he's obviously got a great great Cricket brain and England's best B so we just bounce off a few ideas of each other you're only doing the job for a short amount of time I'm not asking if you want to do it in a long term but what is your perspective of people who do this full like have you been able to switch off have you been able to sleep well like can you imagine what it must be like to be Captain yeah yeah I think I think that's probably the important thing and I think you get it as as your career goes on I think it's for for test cricketers what I struggled with early in my career I guess I was I was had a pretty average first probably 20 old games and and I probably struggled getting away from the game a little bit too much I was pretty pretty young and and trying to find my way and really had E I was really eager to to be successful and to put winning contributions towards a team so I think that probably got too a little bit too much for me at the time when I was younger so I think now as a test cricketer I've I've learned and I think in this environment as well it's a lot easier to find ways to switch off and and to freshen up and you might have that slight bit of more fatigue being captain and being captain of your side but I guess it goes back to those same strategies of finding a way to get away from the game and and really making the most of your time off because you know once you're once you're in the mix of it it's going to be it's going to be fair Fairly tiring so yeah it just make puts a bit more emphasis on the time where you can actually get away from cricket and and not even think about it for a couple of weeks yeah uh Sri Lanka coming after loss and you are one up in the series so Lo is to pretty much good we get for them that as the fast you concerned about the fast TR record so do you have any uh new plans against them all s to the same Basics that you had on the alra uh yeah no I wouldn't say there's any specific plans it's somewhere where we've played a fair bit of cricket and had some decent success over the last uh over the last couple of years um but I don't think the venue necessarily makes too much of a difference for us um we just try and try and play our play our best cricket and go out try and take 20 wickets and get as many runs and try and keep it as simple as simple as we can over over the week that's coming up so if we can play our best Cricket like I said hopefully come outside on the right side of the result uh no not really um I think leading into the game what I did last last week was pretty much exactly the same as I've I've done I guess in the first series especially so it's not really about changing it it's just making sure that mindset I guess like I said you're Captain then making sure you've got the energy to go and some good runs I quite like just having sort of half an eye on it and then keeping an eye on what's happening on the TV because I guess you can see see if the ball's swinging or or seeing around a bit so just having half an eye but then I think what I know what works well for me is just staying pretty pretty chilled when I'm when I'm watching and having conversations with the because you can't score your runs up there before you go out and back this it's probably what I've learned over the last year or two years I guess is save as much energy for when you're out in the middle rather than just watching every single ball too closely that's that's probably yeah like probably one of the things I can improve on this week and then the next is is making sure that I don't do that I guess you walk up so when you're batting three you got get your pad straight on and you you know you could be in whatever so I think that's probably the main thing actually not wor not not worrying about it but not thinking about the all the decisions you just made on the pitch is just going right back have a chat about what you did on the pitch in the day if there things you did well or bad you can reflect on that at the end of the day um yeah I don't think I've got a great record so far um but to be honest I think because we didn't really we had there was a couple of edges behind where where I kind of thought they didn't hit it but I guess we had them seven down I thought we had three so I thought it was worth enough especially with them and just won lbw so I think it's it's something that when you've got three in hand at the end of the Innings I was I was Keen just to have a look um but yeah I think I know Jamie Smith's got good eye for it with the lws over the next couple of weeks so hopefully my yeah every they all want a review don't they they all want that extra Wicket but no I think I think generally no they they're all right i' nor I'd normally go to the keeper because I know I know Jamie's got a good at I'll just keep it nice and simple this week yeah hope for e e e e e e e e for