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Ashes 2023 | England Suffer Huge Setback as Ollie Pope Walks Off The Field Following Shoulder Injury

image-ljisfm01Ollie Pope walked off the field after injuring his shoulder. [Twitter]

In a significant blow to England, their vice-captain Ollie Pope left the field after sustaining a shoulder injury on Day 3 of the ongoing second Ashes Test at Lord's. This is the second time Pope walked off the ground with a shoulder injury in this Test match.

In the 18th over of Australia's second innings, Australian opener Usman Khawaja flicked Ollie Robinson, who bowled it full and onto the pads. Pope, placed at mid-on, tried to stop it with a slide towards his left but failed miserably and seemed to experience severe pain in his shoulder. He immediately left the field, with Rehan Ahmed coming in as a substitute fielder.

Earlier, Pope suffered a similar injury on Day 1 of this Test match when he clutched his shoulder following an awkward dive while fielding a ball which came off the edge of Marnus Labuschagne's bat. 

However, the injury was not a serious one back then, and Pope came out to bat at number three in England's first innings. The 25-year-old has had shoulder injuries in the past as well. He suffered two dislocations to his left shoulder back in 2019 and 2020.

The recurrence of this issue will be a big headache for England, especially after conceding a hefty lead of 88 runs in the first innings. At the time of writing, Australia were 130 for the loss of two wickets in their second innings, with Khawaja and Steven Smith in the middle. The visitors are leading by a healthy 221 runs at the moment and are clearly sitting in the driving seat in this Test match.