Pope stays as wicketkeeper in unchanged England team

Ollie Pope will take the gloves for England in a Test for the fifth time

Ollie Pope will again keep wicket for England after the tourists named an unchanged team for the second Test against New Zealand in Wellington.

Pope kept in place of the injured Jordan Cox during an eight-wicket win in the first Test in Christchurch.

Uncapped Ollie Robinson has arrived as keeping cover, but England have opted to retain Pope behind the stumps and batting at number six, with 21-year-old Jacob Bethell remaining at number three.

Captain Ben Stokes is fit to play a full part as an all-rounder despite pulling up with a back injury on the fourth and final day of the victory.

England have the opportunity for a first away series win in two years when the second Test begins on Friday (22:00 GMT Thursday).

The Pope decision mirrors the last time the Surrey man deputised as England's keeper, on the tour of Pakistan in 2022.

On that occasion, Pope stood-in for the ill Ben Foakes in the first Test, retained the gloves for the second and handed them back to Foakes for the third.

Opting for a similar move this time, England hand another chance to Warwickshire left-hander Bethell, who marked his Test debut with an unbeaten 50 in the second innings in Christchurch.

Pope was blemish-free behind the stumps and made 77 with the bat, his first half-century since September.

"They always say when you don't notice a keeper he's done a good job and Ollie certainly did that," said Woakes. "He was brilliant last week, stepping into a role he hasn't done a lot of.

"For him to score runs just shows his character, putting his hand up for the team without any fuss and cracking on."

In the New Zealand capital, England return to the Basin Reserve, scene of their all-time classic one-run defeat by the Black Caps in February 2023. Stokes' side became only the fourth in Test history to lose after enforcing the follow-on.

On Wednesday, two days out from the beginning of the second Test, the Wellington pitch looked green, but is expected to play true.

"It is green, but I'm not sure if it's as green as what last week was," Woakes told BBC Sport. "There are a couple of brown bits, so has the potential to dry out further into the week."

Woakes also backed England opener Zak Crawley, whose scores of nought and one in the first Test, mean his average against New Zealand has dropped below 10 across 17 innings.

"A lot of the time these stats that come out are pure coincidence," said Woakes. "New Zealand have some very good opening bowlers. He faces the new ball when they are their freshest and best, so he's probably got some good balls in there.

"We've seen the quality Zak has. Opening the batting is such a difficult job. You will have occasions where you get low scores. When he gets in, he's one of the worst batters to be bowling at in international cricket. I'm sure that record will change."