POPE STARS
Curran’s heroics inspire new boy Ollie to become latest youngster proving a hit on the Test stage
‘ANYTHING you can do’ appears to be the positive approach Ollie Pope will take into his Test debut this week in a bid to follow teammate Sam Curran’s lead.
The Surrey duo are half of a quartet of 20-year-olds making waves at the Oval and now England after Curran’s man-of-the-match display (right) at Edgbaston in just his second Test.
Chris Woakes has replaced the unavailable Ben Stokes, while Pope has been picked in place of the axed Dawid Malan in the hope he can bring to the international arena scintillating county form that includes three hundreds at an average of 85.
After experiencing sell-out crowds at the Oval and spending a day around the England camp at Lord’s as a guest, he is itching to make an impact.
“It’s exciting,” said Pope – who yesterday also hit 24 from 13 balls as Surrey beat Essex by six wickets in the T20 Blast.
“It’s been awesome seeing Sammy go this week and it makes you realise you can come in as 20-year-old and have a big impact. Playing in front of big crowds from my first few games was massive. It made me realise the bigger picture of cricket straight away, that you weren’t just playing for yourself.
“It was good to get around the team for the day earlier in the summer. I got to know the guys a bit better and also I now know what it’s like on the morning of the first Test at Lord’s.”
It has been a swift promotion for Pope from invited guest to middleorder batsman, but it is a path Surrey director of cricket and England legend Alec Stewart is confident he can follow.
Along with Curran and Pope, Stewart is developing spinner Amar Virdi and allrounder Ryan Patel to complete the quartet, even if he thinks 28-year-old opening batsman Rory Burns might be the next off the conveyor belt.
And with Surrey leading the Division One table, Stewart has given a nod to Yorkshire for showing how producing England players and winning trophies can be done. “At the age of 20 we’ve two lads who have come through our academy system, progressed into the first team and now are going to be playing for England together,” said Stewart. “We’re ecstatic about it. “Counties have a duty to produce their own players to make the county successful to win trophies and to produce players for England, and Yorkshire have set the standard. “Ollie is a very quick learner and he’s developing at a rapid rate. After a winter away in Sydney where he matured as a player and a person, he’s come back and dominated county cricket, and I have full belief he will be a regular Test player. “It will be interesting to see where they bat him because he has been at six for us, but he will be able to handle whatever they ask of him.”
England squad for 2nd Test: Cook, Jennings, Root (c), Pope, Bairstow (wk), Buttler, Woakes, Curran, Moeen, Rashid, Broad, Anderson, Porter.