London, July 10 -- England batter Ollie Pope believes that his teammate Joe Root will be focused on converting his unbeaten 99 into a "monster" score when play resumes at Lord's on Friday. Root was left one short of his 37th Test hundred at stumps on Day one of the ongoing Test match, after anchoring England's innings on a challenging surface.

Speaking at the post-day press conference, Pope said Root may not lose too much sleep over being stranded on 99, but there's no doubt he'll come back with intent.

"I don't think he's the best sleeper anyway, to be honest," Pope said.

"I think obviously he would have loved to walk off 100. However, I think the bloke's got 36 of them now. So I don't think he'll be too sleepless because of that. I t...