Ollie Pope has a recurring problem he needs to sort out if he is to cement a place in England’s top order, writes NASSER HUSSAIN

On the eve of this Test match, Ollie Pope said he was having trouble separating leadership from batting, but I don’t think that’s the cause of his problems.

Pope’s problem is that he is a poor starter, someone who is capable of following up a great hundred, like the 196 he made in India earlier this year, with a thin patch.

I can’t remember Joe Root looking so frantic at the start of an innings, even when he was captain. He often scored 20 for 2.

Roots’ talent was to look composed and calm. I also admired openers who were captains like Graham Gooch or Mark Taylor, from Australia, who would be in the field all day, then run away, put on the pads late at night and be enthusiastic from ball one.

Yes, it’s clearly a new task for Pope and his situation reminds me of the advice Keith Fletcher gave me when I became England captain.

Pope again struggled with the bat as the England captain lost only 1 stroke at Lord’s

The most important thing, he told me, was to score runs, because everything flows from that. Every decision you make seems easier when you contribute with the bat.

Remember that’s his main job, that’s why he’s in the team and number 3 is a crucial position.

All the talk about next year’s Ashes in Australia has been about the bowling attack, but there haven’t been many great teams that haven’t had a top three. Think Ricky Ponting with Australia, Viv Richards of the West Indies, Jonathan Trott when England were number one in the world.

One of the most important things if England are to regain the Ashes is to ensure the runs come down from the first wicket.

At this point, Pope is still bluffing a little bit when it comes to batting, and I don’t mean that in a negative way.

Someone like Kevin Pietersen naturally had a lot of guts and bravado and wanted to put bowlers under pressure, but Pope is not like that.

He looks more like the emerging Ian Bell before he and Pietersen formed that middle-order band – a nervous, fidgety figure at the crease, someone who lacks the belief that someone of his ability should possess.

Pope is still in that phase where he tries to convince everyone with the projection of his personality. Look at his first-class record, it is absolutely brilliant, but his troubled starts are a problem.

Root showed Pope how it’s done with another superb ton for England on day one at Lord’s

He’s also a bit of a fiddler and on Thursday – because he got a bit stuck in the crease by the ball that came back recently – he hit out of his crease.

By doing this he effectively changes the length of the delivery and so what he saw as a very short ball was now a little bit closer, which kind of rushed him because the ball had half a yard less to travel. The result was that he was a little bit rushed in his stroke.

When he turns 30 he will look like an Ian Bell or a Joe Root but he needs to perform more often and that recurring problem is the problem he needs to solve, not the temporary problem of combining leadership in the team with his position as a top-flight player.