Stand-in England captain Ollie Pope puts India into bat in fifth cricket test at The Oval
Pope is leading the England team in the absence of Ben Stokes, who is absent with a sore shoulder and has been replaced in the side by Jacob Bethell.
Jamie Overton, Gus Atkinson and Josh Tongue also replace Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse and Liam Dawson in the bowling attack.
'There's a bit more grass in the wicket this week, overcast conditions, it's a no- brainer to bowl first,' Pope said.
India made four changes to its team with Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel, Akash Deep and Prasidh Krishna coming in for Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur and Anshul Kamboj.
Captain Shubman Gill lost the toss for the fifth time in the series, meaning India has now gone 15 successive international matches without winning it.
'As long as we are winning the match I don't mind losing the toss," Gill said. 'The wicket looks good so post runs in the first innings and take it from there."
England leads the series 2-1.
Lineups:
England: Crawley, Duckett, Pope (captain), Root, Brook, Bethell, Smith, Woakes, Overton, Atkinson, Tongue.
India: Jaiswal, Rahul, Nair, Gill, Sudharsan, Jadeja, Sundar, Jurel, Deep, Siraj, Krishna.
___
AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket
The Associated Press
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Frustrated Stokes refuses to blame Brook for England collapse
Ben Stokes said he was frustrated by England's failure to secure a Test series win against India but refused to blame Harry Brook for his dismissal, which sparked a dramatic collapse. The five-match series finished 2-2 after India sealed a dramatic six-run win on Monday, with paceman Mohammed Siraj taking three of the four wickets to fall on the final morning. England, chasing a daunting 374 runs to win, had been cruising at 301-3 on Sunday, with Brook and Joe Root at the crease. But they buckled under pressure and lost their last seven wickets for 66 runs. "It's been toe-to-toe pretty much for 25 days," said England captain Stokes, who missed the Oval game with a shoulder injury. "You know, two teams, two very good teams who have thrown everything at each other, left nothing out there. "From a cricket fan's point of view 2-2 is probably fair. Obviously, we're disappointed now to have not got the result that we wanted to give us a series win." England appeared home and dry on Sunday with Brook (111) and Root (105) at the crease. But their late stumble started when Brook, who had changed the tone of the match with his aggressive batting, chipped a bizarre catch to mid-off as he launched his bat in the opposite direction. England lost further wickets late on Sunday, including that of Root, as the tension rose before bad light and rain curtailed play with the result on a knife edge. - Brook dismissal - England returned on Monday needing just 35 runs to win the series 3-1 with four wickets in hand but ultimately fell just short. But Stokes defended the 26-year-old Brook, who scored 481 runs in the series, including two centuries. His ton on Sunday came off just 91 balls with 12 fours and two sixes. "Harry got us into that position by playing a particular way, putting the Indian bowlers under immense pressure to take them away from being able to consistently bowl in the areas that they wanted to bowl," said Stokes. "I'm sure everyone was applauding him when he brought up his hundred in the way that he did. Some of the shots he played were unbelievable." The skipper admitted six dropped catches in India's second innings had ultimately proved costly. "But you can go over so many moments in a five-day Test match and all the time you spend out in the field and say, 'If this had been slightly different, we could have been in a slightly different situation'," he said. "No one means to drop catches, obviously. But I think if we look back on that, you could say that those chances that we did put down did cost us. "Back to Headingley (first Test), when we chased down those runs, India dropped quite a few chances off us, and that probably contributed to us winning." Stokes said his team were in a "strong place" ahead of a bid to regain the Ashes in Australia, with that Test series starting in November. "We have got some lads who are members of this team who have got some other responsibilities to fulfil with the Hundred and one-day international series," he said. "I don't have to concentrate on that. We fly out in November, so we have got a lot of time between now and then to build on all the kind of things we have been speaking about before the series started." jw/jdg/nf
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Liverpool have unearthed another EXCEPTIONAL talent
Liverpool have had extraordinary success with their youth and academy players in recent seasons. The likes of Curtis Jones and Conor Bradley have become established first-team stars - winning the Premier League title last season. Others have earned good money for the club in the transfer market - for example Jarell Quansah and Bobby Clark. 🔴 Shop the LFC Store 🚨2025/26 LFC x adidas range🚨 LFC x adidas Shop the away range TODAY LFC x adidas Shop the home range today! LFC x adidas Shop the goalkeeper range today LFC x adidas Shop the new adidas range today! Hopes are high for the current crop including Rio Ngumoha and Trey Nyoni - who both featured extensively for Arne Slot's side in their preseason campaign. 🔴 Others - such as Ben Doak and Owen Beck enjoyed very good campaigns out on loan last season and in Beck's case his development will continue with another temporary spell at Derby County next season. Koumas deemed an exceptional talent The loan pathway has proven to be fruitful for the Reds - and we can expect to see Lewis Koumas follow that same template once again in 2025/26. Koumas, 19, was a loan star for Stoke City last season in difficult circumstances - but still racked up close to 50 appearances. Norwich City and Sheffield United have been mooted as potential destinations for the Wales international in the season upcoming and right now he is featuring for the club's under-21s. Liverpool made a big impact by signing Rob Page as the new coach for the U21s - with the Welshman coaching his country to the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Rob Page impressed with Koumas The U21s played against their Hull counterparts over the weekend - with Armin Pecsi and Will Wright gaining their first minutes for the club. Koumas was also in the lineup - impressing once again with his vision and trickery. Ahead of the encounter - Page paid tribute to Koumas - telling the club's official website that Liverpool had an EXCEPTIONAL talent on their hands. 'I want to mention Lewis Koumas, who has been exceptional in pre-season, and he triggers the press first just with his energy and his enthusiasm,' he said. 'I want to work with players like that because then you can be more on the front foot and play a more attack-minded game.' © IMAGO
Washington Post
15 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Lions hooker Dan Sheehan suspended for four matches after reckless ruck clearout
SYDNEY — British and Irish Lions hooker Dan Sheehan was suspended for four matches on Monday for his illegal ruck clearout of Australia's Tom Lynagh at the weekend. Sheehan was cited for charging into a ruck and hitting Lynagh's head on Saturday in the third test won by the Wallabies 22-12 in Sydney .
