London: Legendary Geoffrey Boycott remains unconvinced that England’s Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope have overcome their “technical and mental issues” despite scoring centuries against Zimbabwe, insisting that their real challenge will come in next month’s five-Test series against India.
Crawley has endured a tough few months, struggling in New Zealand where he averaged under nine and fell to Matt Henry in all six innings.
Pope, too, had a rollercoaster 2024. His brilliant 196 in the opening Test against India in Hyderabad stands among the finest overseas knocks by an Englishman, but he has been extremely inconsistent since.
“We cannot say suddenly that Crawley and Pope have solved the technical and mental issues that have dogged their careers because the Zimbabwe bowling was so average,” the former English opener said. He however acknowledged that the runs would boost confidence for England’s top-order.