Former Australia captain and one of the best batsmen that the continent has produced, Ricky Ponting was heard seething at the Ollie Pope dismissal. Pope was found guilty of fishing outside off stump against Scott Boland.
The incident came just a few overs after England had gone through a middle-order collapse that wiped off the visitors best hope to put on a decent total. After Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Dawid Malan one after the other, the onus fell on Pope and the debutant Sam Billings to hold for and get England to safety. However it was not to be and Pope fell prey to Bolan’s outswingers.
“What on earth are you doing there?,” questioned Ponting during live commentary. “There was a little bit of outswing earlier in the over, he knows what Boland is trying to do. He’s just fallen for a simple trap.”
Calling it an absolute nothing shot Ponting further went onto explain what exactly made him so furious about the incident.
“It’s a defensive push to a ball that’s on about sixth stump. You’re not going to score from it, all you’re going to do is to nick it through to Carey, which is what he’s done. Ollie Pope you can shake your head as much as you like, but that’s your mistake young man.”