Stand-in Test captain Ollie Pope said that it was “weird” to see so many empty seats at the weekend at Lord’s.

“A few of us have been strolling in each day and it was just like, ‘jeez, it seems quiet today’,” Pope said. “It was kind of weird.

“I’m not sure if people expected the game to be done by day four or not. So it’s a shame that it wasn’t full. But at the same time, it’s been a pretty heavy schedule this summer with, I guess, the Hundred, T20 Blast and a lot of Test matches. So, yeah, a shame it wasn’t a full house because it was obviously a good day’s play.”

‘Form comes and goes’

Pope has led England to victories in his first two Tests as captain, but he has only scored 30 runs at an average of 7.5 in the series and he admitted to being below his best form.

“I’m not going to hide behind the fact I’ve had two poor games with the bat,” he said. “That’s the way cricket is sometimes. I think form comes and goes but the best players are the ones who can draw a line under it, have a fresh start next week, and hopefully I can put a score together.

“Form is something that comes and goes, sometimes batting can feel a lot easier and other times it’s just harder to come by the runs. For me, it’s probably not overthinking it, keep training hard and go into the next game with a fresh start.”

Pope said that he was trying to block out the criticism he has faced, including from Telegraph Sport columnist and former England captain Michael Vaughan.