With Crawley injured and Stokes missing, the pressure is on Pope to score runs. The batting line-up is a man short because Stokes’s absence unbalances the team and there is no like-for-like replacement for him ready to go. Sam Curran is no Bazballer – they want pace not 78mph swingers – so picking a fifth bowler in Matt Potts was essential to fit the way this team plays and give Pope the tools to take 20 wickets.

Stokes did make a statement when he stood in as captain for Root in a one-off Test at the start of the Covid summer of 2020. He dropped Stuart Broad and picked Jofra Archer and Wood together for the only time. It was an early look at Stokes’s approach to captaincy, and the importance he puts on pace. Pope was involved in selection discussions over selection for this Test but it was mainly McCullum and Stokes taking the lead with director of men’s cricket Rob Key.

Pope spoke at length in the team huddle before the first practice session on Monday and admitted the confidence gained from vice-captaincy eased his transition from player to leader. Stokes consciously drew Pope into the management circle on the India tour, consulting with him on selection, assessing pitches and encouraging him to take the lead on team talks. “I guess having the vice-captaincy role has given me the opportunity to get my head around it if this opportunity came about. I’ve thought about it on the pitch, watched him [Stokes] closely as to how he manages the bowlers and the way he goes about it in the changing rooms. There are a few little bits I’ll take from him,” he said. You suspect it will be more than a “little bit”.

It is how Stokes manages his attack, with the focus on taking wickets at all times, rather than restricting scoring, and encouraging players to forget behind hit for boundaries in the pursuit of trying to dismiss batsmen, that Pope will need to emulate the most. When asked last week the key to good captaincy Michael Vaughan said “have good bowlers”. Pope is doing OK on that front. He has the pace of Wood to shake up Sri Lanka backed up by Atkinson’s relentlessness and the swing and seam skills of Woakes. Potts has a lot to prove in his first taste of Test cricket for a year and in Bashir, Pope has a young spinner who proved against West Indies he can be a wicket-taking threat in both innings even on home pitches. Sri Lanka are short of match practice and with cloudy, rainy weather forecast for Manchester it could be tricky for batting. The result should not change too much from the West Indies series as long as England can put runs on the board.

That is where Pope has the greater challenge because he has still yet to dominate a series himself with the bat. He makes one big score, and then falls away too often. Most captains experience a new job bounce before it all wears them down and Pope is a player who as captain is more likely to lead by example than force of personality.

A score this week will set him on his way.