'Make him as uncomfortable as we can' - Ollie Pope reveals England's game plan to unsettle Steve Smith

England's top-order batting ace Ollie Pope, who is fresh off a sensational double century, has vowed to burst former Australian skipper Steve Smith's bubble in the upcoming Ashes. The Australian batting phenomenon is in terrific form at the moment, registering his 31st Test ton in the ongoing World Test Championship Final against India.

While Pat Cummins' Australia are engaged in the WTC Final against India at The Oval, arch-rivals England are keeping a close watch on the Aussies, hatching plans for their upcoming opponents. Talking about Australia's batting star Steve Smith, Ollie Pope showered praise on the unorthodox batter.

However, Pope also sent a stern warning for the Aussie batter, revealing England are not shying away from using 'quirkier ways' to dismiss the ace batter. He stated that England will try to make life difficult for Smith at the crease, trying to break through his stubbornness, bursting his bubble in red-ball cricket.

“He’s been an amazing player for a long time and had a lot of success in all different conditions. What’s made him successful is his stubbornness. We know exactly how he’s going to operate, how he’s going to want to score his runs, and he’s not going to move from that during this five-match series whether he scores runs in the first two or three matches or not. 

That’s exactly the bubble that we’ve got to try and get him out of …. We might be looking at even quirkier ways to challenge him, test him out and make him as uncomfortable as we possibly can to try and get his wicket,” Pope said to the English media on Thursday, June 8.

Ben Stokes' men eyeing redemption against Australia

England, who were handed an embarrassing 4-0 defeat in the last Ashes series, are operating on an entirely different level since the arrival of Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes at the helm. The hosts will be welcoming their nemesis after routing a hapless Ireland in their one-off meeting at the Lord's earlier this month.