ECB Twitter handle draws comparison between Ian Bell and Ollie Pope after latter’s cover drive in ENG vs IRE Test

England star batter Ollie Pope smashed a marvellous cover drive in England vs Ireland test match off Curtis Campher’s bowling. ECB’s Twitter handle compared Ollie Pope’s cover drive to that of former English batter Ian Bell who played some beautiful cover drives right through his career for the English side.

England are facing Ireland in the one-off test match at the iconic Lord’s Stadium in London from June 1 to June 5. This test is vital for England’s preparation ahead of the Ashes Series against Australia starting on June 16.

Ollie Pope plays a marvellous cover drive, gets compared with Ian Bell

In the 21st over of Day 1 of the ENG vs IRE test, Ireland right-arm pacer Curtis Campher bowled an outside-off delivery which was pitched up against English batter Ollie Pope. Pope’s eyes lit up after seeing the pitched-up delivery as he leaned into it and played a scintillating cover drive to get a boundary.

England Cricket was in full awe of the shot played by Ollie Pope as they admired it on their official Twitter handle. “The I̶a̶n̶ ̶B̶e̶l̶l̶ Ollie Pope cover drive… One of the most pleasing shots in cricket Get it on repeat,” Tweeted ECB.

Talking about the game, England pacers rattled through the Ireland batting lineup on Day 1 of ENG vs IRE test at Lord’s. Experienced pacer Stuart Broad got rid of top 4 Irish batters which included the wicket of Ireland skipper Andrew Balbirnie for a duck.

Stuart Broad took a 5-wicket haul and eventually finished with the figures of 5-51. Matthew Pots too scalped a couple of wickets while left-arm spinner Jack Leach dismissed 3 Ireland batters.

Ireland could only score 172 runs in their first innings and got all out after playing just 56.2 overs on Day 1 at Lord’s. Opening batter James McCollum played a fighting knock of 36 runs and kept holding one end right through the innings, Curtis Campher too scored 33 runs.

In response to Ireland’s mediocre total, England batters once again showed their Bazball approach. Opening batter Zak Crawley smashed 56 runs off just 45 deliveries while Ben Duckett remained unbeaten after scoring 60 runs off just 71 deliveries.

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At the end of the play on Day 1, Ollie Pope too remained unbeaten after scoring 29 runs off 35 deliveries which included the beautiful cover drive as well. England are placed at 152-1 at the end of the day’s play.