Ashes 2023: Ollie Pope rule out of England vs Australia Test series - who will replace batter ahead of Headingley?

England’s number three and vice-captain Ollie Pope has been ruled out of the rest of the Ashes series with a dislocated shoulder.

The 25-year-old was injured when diving in the field during the second Test at Lord’s which saw Australia win by 43 runs to lead the series by 2-0.

Pope underwent scans on Monday which showed that he would be required to undergo surgery and has therefore been ruled out of the remainder of the summer. A quick statement from the ECB said: “England and Surrey batter Ollie Pope has been ruled out of the rest of the LV= Insurance Men’s Ashes Series after dislocating his right shoulder during the second Ashes’ Test at Lord’s last week.

“Scans in London on Monday revealed the full extent of the injury and he will miss the rest of the summer campaign and will require surgery. He will work closely with the England and Surrey medical teams in respect of his rehabilitation.

“England will not call up a replacement for the third Ashes Test which starts at Headingley on Thursday.”

The right-hander batter, who scored 42 in the first innings before injuring himself in the opponent’s first innings, came back to the field for Australia’s second bat amid confusion over the umpires saying he had to do so and further aggravated his injury.

Who will replace Ollie Pope?

The ECB’s final line in their statement suggests that Dan Lawrence will be the most likely replacement in the line-up as he is the only spare batter in England’s squad. The Essex-batter averages 29 from his 11 Tests but has not played since the tour to the West Indies in March 2022.

Another potential option for Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum would be to bring in Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes into the attack, thus giving both bowling and batting options further down the order.

England’s confirmation that they will not bring in a replacement rules out the potential for Surrey’s Ben Foakes to be called up. Widely believed to be the best glovesman in the country, Foakes was dropped from the side with the return of Jonny Bairstow but an option would have been to bring Bairstow further up the order and have Foakes, who has a Test average of 32.2 from his 20 matches, in at number seven.

When is England’s next Test match?

England head to Headingley, Leeds, for the third Ashes Test match on Thursday 6 July. If all five days are required, the game will end on Monday 10 July and Sky Sports will once again have all the coverage from the fixture with the BBC offering a daily highlights show at 7pm each day of play.