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England unchanged for Wellington Test as Pope keeps wicket again
Written by Sports Desk. Posted in ICC Test Championship. | 04 December 2024 | 326 Views
Tags: Cricket, England

England have selected an unchanged team for the second Test against New Zealand in Wellington, with Ollie Pope again deputising as wicketkeeper. 

England triumphed by eight wickets in the first of three Tests in Christchurch, with debutant Jacob Bethell hitting an unbeaten half-century to guide the tourists over the line in their second innings.

Pope, meanwhile, was faultless behind the stumps as he stood in for the injured Jordan Cox and also made 77 with the bat in the first innings, hitting his first half-century since September.

Team-mate Chris Woakes told BBC Sport he was impressed by the way Pope had taken on the role, saying: "They always say when you don't notice a keeper he's done a good job.

"Ollie certainly did that. He was brilliant last week, stepping into a role he hasn't done a lot of.

"Obviously he can keep and has done previously for England, but 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. To move to number six, get such a good score for us and contribute to a big partnership was massive."

Captain Ben Stokes, meanwhile, keeps his place as an all-rounder after overcoming an injury scare in the first Test,

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