FLAME WARNE

Ginger spinner Lloyd set to follow superstar Shane and spice up Aussies’ Ashes bid

AUSTRALIA are praying that ginger twirler Lloyd Pope can be their surprise package next summer.

Pope, 18, became the youngest bowler to take seven wickets in their Sheffield Shield first-class competition when he claimed 7-87 in just his second match.

The flame-haired leggie, a lookalike for Simply Red’s Mick Hucknall, is also collecting comparisons to Shane Warne by the truckload.

And if he makes it over to the UK, the 2019 Ashes could be something of a religious experience – with Surrey’s Ollie Pope ready and waiting.

Earlier this year the Aussie teenager caused a sensation when he took eight wickets against England in the quarterfinals of the Under-19 World Cup to launch himself into the public awareness.

Now he is doing the business for South Australia, and even Warne himself was impressed with his seven-wicket haul against Queensland, saying: “The sky’s the limit for Lloyd.”

At 18 years and 328 days, Pope has less of the bravado and ego of Warne (above, left), and when he was told he had broken Doug Walters’ record his response was simply: “I wasn’t aware of that.

“I don’t really follow those statistics like that. I’m a cricket nut but I don’t sort of hunt through the books and look for records or things like that. That’s the first time I heard it. It’s pretty good, I guess.”

It has been almost 12 years since the greatest Ashes legspinner of them all stepped away from Test cricket.

England fans are hoping their own twister Adil Rashid (left) will develop into a star turn after an unexpected recall to the five-day game.

Rashid knows what it is like to be burdened with huge expectations after taking 6-67 on his Yorkshire debut, aged just 18 and 154 days.

He warned: “Pope’s 18 and he’s just got

a seven-for in the Shield. So it’s about making sure if he does get straight in the Test team he’s not affected by the hype around that.

“Asking him to follow in the footsteps of Shane Warne could potentially be a dangerous route to go. You don’t want to be thrown in the deep end too soon.”

England have called up Surrey stumper Ben Foakes as Test cover for Jonny Bairstow as he recovers from an ankle ligament injury.