England’s top-order batter ruled out of remainder of Ashes due to shoulder injury

England vice-captain Ollie Pope has been ruled out of the squad in the ongoing Ashes after sustaining a shoulder injury ahead of the third Test in Headingley. England are already trailing by 0-2 after losing the first two Test matches against Australia in Birmingham and London, respectively.

Pope suffered an injury while fielding early in the Lord’s Test. After that, the scans undergone in London on Monday revealed the full extent of his injury. The 25-year-old is now told to rest for the remaining English summer and is likely to undergo surgery in the future.

“England and Surrey batter Ollie Pope has been ruled out of the rest of the LV Insurance men’s Ashes series after dislocating his right shoulder during the second Ashes Test at Lord’s last week,” the England and Wales Cricket Board said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Scans in London on Monday revealed the full extent of the injury and he will miss the rest of the summer campaign and will require surgery,” the statement further added.

Notably, this is Pope’s third shoulder dislocation requiring surgery in four years. He injured his left shoulder in 2019 playing for Surrey, due to which he was ruled out of the 2019 Ashes. In 2020, he injured his left shoulder again in a Test match against Pakistan. Although England haven’t announced any replacement for Pope, it is likely that Reserve batter Dan Lawrence is in the box to fill his shoes and get featured in the third Test match in Leeds starting on Thursday.

‘Ollie’s been phenomenal for us for the past 18 months’ – Joe Root

England’s former Test skipper Joe Root believes that the exclusion of Pope is a big blow for the hosts as he has been an integral part of the squad over the past few years.”It’s a big blow. Ollie’s been phenomenal for us for the past 18 months, he’s been an incredible leader within the group and stepped up as vice-captain,” said Root.

“The more responsibility that’s been giving to him, the more we’ve got out of him as player. He’ll be a big miss for us obviously, he’s an incredible player to have within the group, Ben (Stokes) gets a huge amount of him as vice-captain as do lots of other players in the groups.”