Former England captain Michael Vaughan has accused Ollie Pope of 'wasting' his talent after the 24-year-old's poor showing in the Ashes.
Pope made his Test debut as a 20-year-old back in 2018 but has failed to deliver on his prodigious talent so far, making just one century and averaging 28.66 after 40 innings.
In his first tour of Australia, Pope played in three Tests and scored just 67 runs at an average of 11.16.
He was recalled to the side for the final Test in Hobart after Jonny Bairstow injured his thumb while scoring England's sole hundred of the series in Sydney.
Pope's dismissals in that Test summed up his struggles as he nicked off to a ball he could have left in the first innings and then got bowled around his legs in the second.
Ricky Ponting was scathing in his criticism of Pope during the Hobart Test and Vaughan has now laid into the Surrey star.
In his column for the Telegraph , Vaughan wrote: "He has a huge amount of talent but he is wasting it.
"Why can’t he leave the ball? Why is he panicking every time he goes to the middle?
"We are in an era where players get every ounce of help they need with coaches, analysis and support structures but he is getting worse.
"That is a mental thing. Only he can put that right. Why is he flapping? He has to work that out himself. He is old enough now to do that.
"Is Pope too comfortable? He goes back to Surrey, scores double centuries for fun and then comes into the England set-up on a nice contract and is looked after well."
Pope does have an outstanding first-class record, having made 4,220 runs at an average of 50.23 and has averaged over 70 in his last three season in the County Championship.
