Ollie Pope reckons England can breach the 600-run mark inside a day’s play in Test cricket while ruling out any let-up with their ultra-aggressive ‘Bazball’ approach with the bat.

“Sometimes we might score 280 to 300 in a day, but that’s okay and probably because we’re reading situations. There might also be a day where we go and get 500 to even 600 at some point in the future as well. And that’s a cool thing to have,” Pope was quoting as saying by BBC Sport.

In December 2022, England had smashed 506 runs on the opening day of the first Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi.

England have already sealed the three-match Test series against the West Indies with an unassailable 2-0 lead after they followed up an innings victory at Lord’s with a comprehensive 241-run win in Nottingham, last week.

The win in Nottingham was the first time England scored 400-plus in both innings of a Test match with totals of 416 and 425. Pope (scoring 121 in the first innings) was one of the three England centurions in the second Test alongside Joe Root and Harry Brook.

Pope said there might be times England batters will have to “manage the game a little bit more”, but that their attacking style under head coach Brendon McCullum and captain Stokes has now become second nature.

“I got asked on Day I at Trent Bridge, ‘Do you get told to play like that?’. No, we don’t. It’s just our natural games and the way we go about it,” Pope stated.

With an “extra bit” of hunger, this England batting line-up wants to be as ruthless as possible, Pope asserted.

“There’s a real hunger — there always is a hunger — but now, there’s an extra bit in that batting line-up. We want to be as ruthless as we can as a batting unit and still play the way we do because that’s our natural game.

Obviously, being ruthless is being part of Test cricket as well.”

Written with Reuters inputs