Talking Cricket: Why the 2025/26 Ashes is a career defining series for Ollie Pope

It is no secret that for both English and Australian cricketers, The Ashes is the pinnacle of the game. Whether in the often cloudy and swinging conditions of England or the intense heat and hard pitches down under, the competition between the pair is always incredibly fierce, albeit one-sided at times. 

In England, contests have tended to be tighter, but in Australia, the Aussies have dominated. The last three Ashes series in Australia have seen England beaten to nil, with a 5-0 loss in 2013/14 followed by 4-0 defeats in 2017/18 and 2021/22. Clearly, England have to be very good to win in Australia, while the Aussies need to be someway below their best. 

There is cause for optimism for the tourists this time round. They battled hard against a very strong Indian side in the English summer to secure a 2-2 draw. They also arrive with many of their players in good form. 

Joe Root is still chasing records, Jofra Archer is bowling quickly and the hope will be that Ben Stokes can arrive fit enough to turn games with both bat and ball. 

While there are some question marks surrounding the side itself, one seems bigger than others. Ollie Pope’s place in the team is up for debate once again, and this series may yet prove to be his reckoning. 

It is a big talking point that Root, England’s greatest ever batter, is yet to score an Ashes hundred in Australia. So much of the talk about batting his focussed on Root, and this has distracted from Pope’s form and place in the side. 

Against India in 2025, Pope averaged 34.00 at number three. Playing as a second buffer between the new ball and England’s best batter, Pope struggled to score runs consistently against a very good Indian bowling attack. 

106 of his 306 runs came in a single innings, with his other eight innings seeing him score 200 runs at 25.00. Worryingly, he only scored a single half-century to go alongside his high score of 106. When things were going against Pope, they were really hitting him hard. 

These were also conditions he has become accustomed to batting in. Playing at home, Pope should be scoring consistently and giving England solid starts when coming in after the openers. 

In Australia, Pope averages a measly 11.17 in six innings. His high score of 35 alludes to a real weakness in Australian conditions. Against the Aussies across continents, Pope’s averages barely rises to 15.70 in 10 innings with a new high score of 42. 

Perhaps Pope’s woes are not simply against Australia in Australia, but against the Aussies full stop. 

There is a worrying trend for Pope across Test cricket against the best. His overall average of 35.36 is low for a player of his quality. Against Australia, he averages 15.70, while his averages are poor against Indian (27.09), New Zealand (36.67), Pakistan (26.71) and Sri Lanka (31.83). 

His average is swelled by meetings with Ireland (205.00), the West Indies (69.59) and Zimbabwe (171.00). The one intriguingly high average is against South Africa, against whom he boasts an average of 63.57. 

Pope’s troubles against the best are a major worry heading into arguably the toughest conditions to play in against one of the best bowling attacks in the game. 

Have we already seen a shift towards what this England side is planning? Back in September, it was announced that Pope would be replaced as England vice-captain by Harry Brook. In a sense, it is not surprising. Brook is a multi-formats star for England that was named as the limited overs captain. It would not be surprising to see him eventually replace Ben Stokes as Test captain when the time comes. 

However, keeping a player that is in poor form in the team but stripping them of the vice-captaincy is strange. Was the thought behind the decision to allow Pope to focus on his batting instead of bogging him down with extra responsibilities? This worked well for Joe Root, who has been able to thrive with the bat since standing down as the Test captain. 

For Pope, this does not seem like it truly informed the decision. By the standards he has set himself and the ceiling most agree he has, Pope has been poor. His average of 47.70 in 2025 was swelled greatly by scores of 171 against Zimbabwe before a series best of 106 against India in the first Test at Headingley. Since then, his scores have been 8, 0, 24, 44,4, 71, 22 and 27.

Batting at three is not a position for the faint hearted. The prospect of facing the new ball against a bowler that has just knocked over an opener early and is now on a roll is daunting. However, that is what Pope is in the side to do. His ability to soak up pressure, soften the new ball and then go on the attack and score runs consistently is the hallmark of a good number three. 

In the past, number threes for England have had to come in with barely an over on the board, such has been the fragility of their openers. Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley are not prefect, but they have been the best opening pair England have had for some time, with Duckett particularly strong. 

Ultimately, there were harder times to play at number three for England. With Duckett and Crawley generally going well with the bat, Pope should also be thriving as he does not need to face a brand new ball as often as his predecessors might have. 

There has also been talk of Jacob Bethell moving into the Test XI in Pope’s place, but this is fanciful. 

While Bethell may yet prove to be England’s next big thing, throwing him into the fire midway through an Ashes series would likely be counter-productive to his own development. 

While the long-term plan may be for Bethell to take a place in this England side, it would be incredibly short-sighted to throw him into the side now, especially when he has only played four Test matches. Indeed, his two cameos against India earlier in the year ended with him scoring 11 total runs as he twice gave his wicket away. 

With the Ashes so close and good number threes in England and the world like gold dust, Pope is likely safe for the first few games of the Ashes, if not all of it. 

However, knee-jerk reactions are part and parcel of sport. Managers are sacked and players are replaced in double-quick time as the fascination with overnight results grows. Yet, to drop a player mid-Ashes and replace them with a player with only four Test matches under his belt could become a decision that is ridiculed for years to come. 

That is not to say Pope is completely safe in this England team. A string of low scores and poor decisions with the bat could see him dropped. His focus has to be on starting well in Australia. If he can make a statement with the bat in game one, then it will likely see some of the spotlight shift.

If he is skittled cheaply then the Aussie players and fans will be all over him. While much of sport is about blocking out the noise and playing your own game, walking out to packed Australian stadiums with nothing more than a duck in your back pocket from your last innings would not allow anyone to be in the right space mentally. 

Like Root, Pope is still searching for his first Ashes century in Australia. The major difference between the players is that this is a blip on Root’s immaculate copybook. 39 international centuries and 13,543 runs makes Root England’s greatest batsman and one of the best of all time. 

Pope’s nine centuries and 3607 runs is a promising start that has bought him time, but the timer is ticking worryingly close to zero.