The captain of England has denied complacency was to blame for England's eight-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka in the third and final Test.
After the hosts collapsed in their second innings on day three, Sri Lanka won their first Test on English soil in over a decade.
During the series, Pope made a number of questionable decisions, including 10 failed DRS reviews. However, on day two, when bad light forced England's spinners on, they struggled on a pitch with little movement, and Pope decided to keep them on, resulting in the tourists recovering from 93-5 to 211-5.
After England's loss, questions were raised about whether that was a turning point in the match in true Bazball fashion.
"I don't think it was complacency. It's been a long summer, but that has nothing to do with the loss," Pope said.
Despite our best intentions, this game didn't quite work out for some reason.
Despite having a first-inning lead, we didn't score enough runs.
During the series, we played some great cricket and in a couple of weeks, we'll be able to reflect on that day three and make a decision based on what we learned."
With Ben Duckett and Pope out for seven, Chris Woakes out for a duck, Harry Brook (3) and Gus Atkinson (1) trapped lbw, and Shoaib Bashir removed for four, England's clean sweep chances were jeopardized during their second innings on day three.
Sri Lanka accepted this golden opportunity to get back into the Test match.
Having beaten the West Indies 3-0 in the series preceding, the hosts lost their chance of earning their first clean sweep in 20 years.
After England's third Test defeat by Sri Lanka, Ollie Pope shares his thoughts
"It's disappointing not to be on the right side of the result. I think we shot ourselves in the foot a bit on day three," Pope said.
It wasn't our best performance and credit to Sri Lanka. The way [Pathum] Nissanka played was high-class and they deserved to win.
We weren't at our best either."
As Sri Lanka edge closer to a comprehensive win against England in the third Test, Pathum Nissanka scores a century
Stuart Broad, former England fast bowler, believes they will be frustrated to have lost here. It is usually a ground where they do well.
As I mentioned at the beginning of the summer, their goal would have been to win the six Test matches while also introducing some new players to Test match cricket.
It is clear that we have achieved that. There have been some brilliant performances from players who have settled really well into Test match cricket.
The performance will frustrate them slightly, especially since there is a bit of a break before they play another test.
When you play like this and don't get it quite right, you often want to play the following week and break some of those habits.
They probably didn't care enough about their wickets or didn't get a big enough lead."
We keep finding new ways to look at Test cricket, Root says
Root reacts to England's third Test defeat by Sri Lanka and being named Test player of the summer
Root, the player of the series, said England will build upon the defeat as they find new ways to approach Test cricket.
"It's great to see this team keep evolving and getting better, and new players coming in and putting their best foot forward, showing the depth we have," Root said.
You know how fickle this game is, you need to keep working hard, and you know how quickly things can change.
We faced different conditions in this game, and we are always looking for ways to pressure our opponents.
After day three of the third Test at the Oval, Mark Butcher and Kumar Sangakkara analyze Sri Lanka and England's performances.
Although it didn't work in this game, we still played our cricket the way we want to.
While there will be times when we are challenged and must find our way back into the game, I think what brings us our best performances is our ability to stand out from the crowd.
It will be hoped that injured duo Zak Crawley and Ben Stokes will be fit for England's next Test series against Pakistan in October.
Following Pakistan's recent first-ever Test series defeat to Bangladesh, complacency will certainly be questioned after the team completed a 3-0 whitewash on their last visit to the country in 2022.
Next steps?
A multi-format white-ball series between England and Australia starts on Wednesday September 11, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 6pm.
It was not complacency that led to England's eight-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka in the third and final Test.
Having collapsed in the second innings on day three, Sri Lanka completed their first Test victory on English soil in over a decade.
Pope made a number of questionable decisions during the series, including 10 failed DRS reviews. When bad light forced England's spinners on day two, they struggled on a pitch that offered little movement and Pope decided to keep them on, with the tourists recovering from 93-5 to 211-5.
In true Bazball fashion, England would have wanted to continue playing so that they could entertain the fans, but after they lost, questions were raised as to whether that was a turning point.
"I don't think it was complacency at all. It's been a long summer, but that has nothing to do with losing this game," Pope said.
"We still came to play with the same intentions, but for some reason, this game didn't quite work out.
Despite having a first-inning lead, we didn't score enough runs.
We played some really good cricket throughout the series, so we'll be able to look back on that day three in a few weeks and make a decision then."
During their second innings, England collapsed to 82-7 after losing Ben Duckett and Pope for seven, Chris Woakes for a duck, Harry Brook (3) and Gus Atkinson (1) trapped lbw, and Shoaib Bashir for four.
With this result, Sri Lanka was given the opportunity to return to the Test match, and they seized it with both hands.
After beating the West Indies 3-0 in the series prior, the hosts lost their chance to earn their first clean-sweep summer in 20 years.
After England's third Test defeat by Sri Lanka, Ollie Pope shares his thoughts
Pope said it was disappointing not to be on the winning side. "Day three, we probably shot ourselves in the foot a little bit," he said.
The way [Pathum] Nissanka played was high-class, and Sri Lanka deserved this win.
"But we weren't at our best either."
In addition to taking away from the fact that England won the series 2-1, the manner of the defeat echoed a pre-Bazball era - slow, inevitable, and uninspiring.
While England's ultra-positive Test team has shown some promising moments throughout the summer with wicketkeeper-batsman Smith and pace bowler Atkinson, defeat in the final match will be disappointing.
In the third Test against England, Pathum Nissanka scores a century as Sri Lanka edge closer to a comprehensive win
It is generally a ground they perform well at," said former England fast bowler Stuart Broad.
"At the start of the summer, I think I said their goal would have been to win the six Test matches and introduce some new players to Test match cricket.
The players who have come into Test match cricket and settled in very well have certainly achieved that.
It will frustrate them slightly, especially now that there is a break before their next Test.
When you play like this and don't get it quite right, you tend to want to play the following week and break some of these habits.
In my opinion, England didn't care enough about their wickets or didn't get a big enough lead.
Root: Test cricket keeps evolving as we find new ways to look at it
Root reacts to England's third Test defeat by Sri Lanka and being named Test player of the summer
According to Joe Root, the player of the series, the defeat will give England another chance to improve.
The team keeps finding new ways to look at the game, keeps evolving, keeps improving, and some new faces join us and show what depth we have," Root said.
You know how fickle this game is, you have to keep working hard, you know how quickly things can change.
In this game, we came up against different conditions, and we're always trying to find ways to put pressure on the opposition.
After day three of the third Test at the Oval, Sky Sports' Mark Butcher and Kumar Sangakkara examine both Sri Lanka's and England's performances.
In this game, it didn't work out the way we wanted, but we still played cricket the way we wanted to.
There will be times when we are challenged and need to find our way back into the game, but what brings our best performances is being a team that stands out.
It is an opportunity for us to learn from it, evolve, and improve.
As Pope hands back the reins, the England team will hope that injured duo Zak Crawley and Ben Stokes will be able to play in the next Test series against Pakistan in October.
Following Pakistan's recent first ever Test series defeat to Bangladesh, complacency will certainly come back into question for Pakistan after they completed a 3-0 whitewash on their previous tour to the country in 2022.
Next steps?
On Wednesday September 11, England's multi-format white-ball series against Australia begins on Sky Sports Cricket at 6pm ahead of the first ball at 6.30pm.
