Pope needs strong finish after good start takes worrying dip

THE OVAL Test so often feels like the end of something, but that is not really the sense as this summer of red-ball renewal draws towards a close.

- Malik Ouzia

For one, six home Tests against West Indies and Sri Lanka were always billed as a springboard to greater challenges for an evolving England team.

That evolution began with headline comings and goings at the summer’s start, and will continue to the last, with a debut this week for 20-year-old seamer Josh Hull.

The schedule, too, dictates that right now, nothing ever ends. England begin a white-ball series against Australia the day after this Third Test is scheduled to wrap up. Given the weather forecast for the Kia Oval, it is not out of the question that we make it to day five, either.

After Australia, it is quickly into Test series away from home against Pakistan and New Zealand, with a white-ball tour to the West Indies sandwiched in between.