The Ashes 2023: England's Ollie Pope ruled out for remainder of series due to shoulder injury
Ollie Pope requires surgery on his shoulder; he suffered the injury during the second men's Ashes Test at Lord's; watch the third Test live on Sky Sports Cricket from 10am on Thursday (first ball from 11am)
Tuesday 4 July 2023 13:20, UK
England vice-captain Ollie Pope has been ruled out of the rest of the men's Ashes series after dislocating his right shoulder during the second Test at Lord's last week.
Pope suffered the injury while fielding early in the second Test at Lord's, and later aggravated the problem after a miscommunication with match officials led England to believe they were not permitted to use a substitute fielder in the second innings.
Scans in London on Monday revealed the full extent of the injury, with Pope now out the rest of the summer campaign and requiring surgery.
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This is Pope's third shoulder dislocation requiring surgery in four years - he injured his other shoulder, his left, in 2019 playing for Surrey which ruled him out of the 2019 Ashes, and his left again in 2020 in a Test vs Pakistan.
Former England captain Joe Root said it was a big loss for Pope to be ruled out for the rest of the summer.
"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.
"Of course it will be a big loss, he's been an integral part of this team and will continue to be so for many more years to come."
England will not call up a replacement for the third Ashes Test, which starts at Headingley on Thursday.
One option is for Dan Lawrence to come in as a straight replacement at No 3 in the batting order.
Lawrence won the last of his 11 Test caps last March and has not played since Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes took charge of the side.
Others options include a return for Moeen Ali or a first Test this Ashes for either Chris Woakes or Mark Wood.
England squad for third Test at Headingley:
Ben Stokes (c)
Moeen Ali
James Anderson
Jonny Bairstow
Stuart Broad
Harry Brook
Zak Crawley
Ben Duckett
Dan Lawrence
Ollie Robinson
Joe Root
Josh Tongue
Chris Woakes
Mark Wood
Watch the crucial third Test of this summer's men's Ashes series live on Sky Sports Cricket from Thursday July 6. Coverage from Headingley starts from 10am with the first ball at 11am. Also stream this summer's men's and women's Ashes series on NOW TV.
