Ollie Pope’s bid to lead England recovery against South Africa halted by rain

Ollie Pope’s attempts to lead England out of trouble after the loss of early wickets were frustrated by rain which forced an early close to play on the opening day of the first Test against South Africa at Lord’s.

The 24-year-old brought up his half-century just before lunch, having played positively, and he was unbeaten on 61, with England 116 for six, when the rain came and the players were forced off at 2:09pm.

The weather did not ease up all afternoon before the end of play was finally called at 4.31pm.

Pope was called on to remedy a dismal situation in the morning session after England slipped to 55 for four, losing Jonny Bairstow for a duck, with Ben Stokes caught just on the stroke of lunch.

Ben Foakes was the only wicket to fall – bowled by Anrich Nortje – in an afternoon session that lasted just over half-an-hour and featured only six overs.

Stuart Broad briefly entered the field but only faced two balls, including taking one to the shoulder, before the umpires called the players in.

England captain Stokes had attempted to be positive from the outset, coming down the wicket early on, but the hosts kept losing wickets, despite a positive run rate of 3.6 an over.

There were few signs of the ‘Bazball’ aggressive batting approach on day one, with both openers starting cautiously and with few runs on offer against a South Africa bowling attack in good rhythm.

Bairstow went into the match in incredible form, having averaged 76.46 in 2022 with six centuries, but he was brought down to earth here, bowled for a duck by Nortje.

Ahead of the game, Stokes had singled out opening pair Alex Lees and Zak Crawley for praise following their century stand during the victory over India at Edgbaston last month, yet there would be