Daily Times

England’s Ollie Pope insisted the good fortune he enjoyed while compiling a hundred in the second Test against the West Indies on Thursday made up for a lean start to the county season. Pope top-scored with 121, his sixth Test hundred, as England were dismissed for 416 on an eventful first day in Nottingham. But he was dropped on 46 and 54, by Alick Athanaze and Jason Holder.

“I’m happy with the way I went about my stuff and obviously there was a nice couple of drops, which always helps,” said Pope, who plays his domestic cricket for English county champions Surrey. “No one means to drop them but cricket goes in swings and roundabouts. The luck wasn’t with me in my county stint. “I wouldn’t say I had doubts but sometimes you think, ‘Why’s everyone else in the country scoring runs in county cricket but England’s number three isn’t going out and averaging 50 this summer?’ “That’s just cricket for you, you want to go and score a hundred every day but sometimes it doesn’t work that way.” Pope, though, was glad to have a “lucky charm’ in Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale among the crowd at Trent Bridge on Thursday.