ENGLAND batter Ollie Pope said he remains hopeful of returning to the national test side after accepting that his omission following a poor Ashes series was the right call.
Pope was dropped after managing just 125 runs in six innings during England's 4-1 Ashes defeat to Australia in January, with Jacob Bethell replacing him at number three for the last two tests.
"I guess I knew where I stood," Pope said. "Getting dropped is tough. I didn't want to get dropped of course, but it was the right decision at the time."
The 28-year-old, who has played 64 tests since making his red-ball debut in 2018, said he had clear communication with head coach Brendon McCullum and director of cricket Rob Key after losing his place.
"For me the chats were just 'go back, score loads of runs,'" he said. "If I'm not in that XI, can I make sure I'm the best batter in the country? I can take my game to another level, and make sure if something happens, it's making sure I'm the man to come in."
Pope's path back into the side remains uncertain, with Bethell entrenching himself across formats after scoring his maiden first-class cricket century in the fifth test in Sydney, followed by 105 in England's Twenty20 World Cup semi-final defeat to India.
Pope also lost the test vice captaincy to Harry Brook last year and will start the County Championship season outside the test squad for the first time since 2022.
"I still feel I can become a better player to bat at number three if something were to happen," Pope said. "But we'll see how the next few weeks pan out and going into the season."
"My summer, I'm not 100 per cent sure what it looks like going forward. We've got a block of seven games for Surrey in the Championship, so I just want to make sure my game keeps improving, developing, for if and when the England stuff comes around again.
"It's different when you're not constantly playing in the test matches. To have a block like this, I can go back to what really works well for me and make sure my game is in as good a place (as it can be)."
(Reuters)
