‘It’s about putting on a show’- Ollie Pope reveals Brandon McCullum’s advice that led to England’s 657 against Pakistan

England Test team have piled up a humongous 657 in the first innings of the historic Test series against Pakistan. Batting on a flat track the English batters made a meal out of the game as they hit all around the ground to thwart any challenge from Pakistan’s bowling.

The pitch and Pakistan’s bowling on it was so poor that four of England’s batters were able to make centuries on the first day itself. Credit however should also go to the batters who used the advantage to their benefit and brought up four individual centuries on a ‘dull pitch.’

Great credit also goes to England’s head coach Brandon McCullum who has changed their approach in Test cricket and play it more like an extended ODI. Famously called the Bazball, England’s new approach has them making humongous scores and winning Test matches by absolutely blowing teams away with their aggressive batting.

England batter Ollie Pope who was one of the four batters to hit a century on Day 1 has acknowledged captain Ben Stokes’ and McCullum for England’s changed mentality.

“We really listened to what Baz [McCullum] and Stokesy have said. It was an amazing day. The best thing is everyone has lived by how the two guys up top want us to play. They want us to entertain people,” Pope was quoted as saying to Sky Sports. Pope said that entertaining people is much more important than achieving milestones in the game.

“It is not about milestones. It is about putting on a show and putting the team in a good position. The fact everyone is so happy to buy into that puts us in a really good place,” he stated.

Pakistan are currently playing at 181/0 at the end of Day 2 after England posted a huge 657 on the board in their first innings. Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq are playing at 89 and 90 respectively. The game in all likelihood is heading toward a draw.