"I was falling asleep waiting to bat"- Ollie Pope on playing through painkillers during second Ashes Test at Lord's 

England batter Ollie Pope opened up on his experience of batting in the second Ashes 2023 Test at Lord's despite being in pain. The right-hander had injured his shoulder in the field during the same game and still decided to continue playing.

Pope spoke about how drowsy he felt because of the high dosage of the painkillers before walking out to bat. He also shed light on the importance of not showing pain to the opposition.

Speaking to Telegraph, here's what Ollie Pope had to say about his Lord's experience through injury:

“It was sore. I was on heavy painkillers. I was falling asleep waiting to bat because the painkillers were so strong. That was kind of annoying. Once I got into the innings it was OK. There were shots that jarred it. I didn’t want to carry on on the pitch because you know what the Aussies are like, I didn’t want to have a target on my back. Wanted to get through the innings."

Pope was dismissed in the first innings through the short-ball barrage that Australia executed brilliantly. He spoke about the pain it caused him while hitting the pull shot and added:

“To play the pull shot was painful and high risk. That [the dismissal] was definitely the shot that hurt it the most. I think the fact I got out made it worse. The pain got easier as I got into the innings. I should have hit it for six and I’m sure it wouldn’t have hurt as badly.”

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Ollie Pope on his experience against Australia

Ollie Pope was dropped from the England team during the 2021/22 Ashes due to his inconsistent performances and has once again missed out on leaving a mark. However, he is not putting too much pressure on himself as the right-hander claimed that there were some knocks where he had gotten off to a start.

On this, he stated:

"I’m not going to be too hard on myself about this summer, it’s certainly different to last time in Australia. That first Test at Edgbaston, there were a lot of nerves flying about. They were bowling at good pace, and I should have kicked on in that first dig [he made 29]. I got a pretty average dismissal to [Nathan] Lyon. That game was pretty annoying, but in that second one I do have to remember I was batting with one shoulder. I’ll have to wait a few more years to hopefully get another crack at Australia."

Ollie Pope could be out of action for a long time and his comeback would depend on how quickly he can complete his rehabilitation. The fourth Ashes Test will be played in Manchester from Wednesday, July 19.