London, April 11 -- England's Test batters Ollie Pope and Jamie Smith have made a strong start to their County Championship campaign amid scrutiny around their Test spots following a poor Ashes series away from home.

Some of England's most prominent Test stars were in action in the ongoing County Championship, with Pope scoring a brilliant 103 for Surrey against Leicestershire, after making 20 and 16 in the opening match against Warwickshire.

"I wouldn't say I necessarily felt at my very best throughout the innings, but I tried to just find a stub inside me to find a way to get through the kind of challenging bits," Pope said afterwards as quoted by ICC.

"I am doing a bit of work on my game to try and get back to my very best, and mana...