As the dates for the upcoming Ashes 2025-26 draw near, the anticipation has been building up crazily. Teams have already been playing mind games, preparing with their best strategies and tactics for the upcoming crucial series. Amid all the talks, the former England legend Sir Alastair Cook has opined that Ollie Pope should bat at number 3 for England in the upcoming Ashes series. Cook further asserted that Pope’s past credentials both as a player and captain have been outstanding, and he has been with the team setup for three to four years now. He also said that making Pope batting at ‘number 3’ should be an easy decision for the Brendon McCullum-led management. Also Read: Pat Cummins likely to miss Ashes 2025 due to injury As quoted at the launch of TNT Sports' Ashes coverage, Cook said: "I would bat Ollie Pope at No. 3. I think it's quite an easy decision on this, actually. You've got someone who's been part of this build-up for three or four years, he's captained the side, he's played some extraordinary innings for England and he's a hundred-maker.” He further added: "If you get rid of him now, I think that changes the whole dynamic of what they've built up over the last year, how settled they'll feel for that top seven. If it doesn't work out, do you then move back to somebody you just got rid of, confidence-wise? I think it's easy to go the other way, and I think that would be the sensible thing.” England have already announced their squad for the upcoming Ashes 2025-26 series with Ben Stokes set to lead the side. The five-match series will get underway on November 21 in Perth. England’s Ashes 2025-26 Squad Ben Stokes (c), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue, Mark Wood