PETER HAYTER

The selection of the 20-year-old Surrey batsman Ollie Pope for England’s second Specsavers Test against India at Lord’s was eye-catching enough (see what I did there?).
The news that he would bat at No.4 on his debut, and at Headquarters, too, provoked further debate over the wisdom of asking a lad who made his Championship debut less than a year ago and who, in the 13 matches for his county since has never batted higher than No.6, to be asked to go head-tohead against Virat Kohli, by common consent the best batsman in Test cricket.
This latest example of Nationa...