POPE & GLORY
No.3 batter Ollie is loving his leadership role & is now being tipped as a future England captain
OLLIE POPE is happy to embrace his latest role as a senior England player and captain-in-waiting behind Ben Stokes.
The 25-year-old has made steady progress under Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum, first as the team’s No.3 batter, and now as a player with clear leadership qualities.
It is why he was asked to lead the side against the England Lions in November ahead of the Pakistan series, and why he has just done the same in the sole warm-up game in New Zealand, which Stokes sat out.
With 33 Tests under his belt already, Pope (above) is developing the experience needed to step into the role whenever the time may come.
With two hundreds and five fifties in the last year, he has emerged as the most dependable long-term preference for the job. “The captaincy might be an option they are looking at in the future,” said Pope.
“It’s just good to be seen as a leader in that changing room. Stokesy is the captain, he knows exactly how he wants to run it, but he comes up and bounces ideas off me sometimes.
“If he wants to do that during a game, I’m more than happy to use my knowledge. I’m just going to keep developing that cricket brain and if it came about in the future, great, I’ll make sure I learn as much as possible before then.” The Surrey batter and stand-in wicketkeeper (above) is also clearly held in high esteem by the rest of the dressing room too, with one time England T20 captain Stuart Broad confident he has what it takes to step up one day.
“I think Popey is a great leader,” said Broad. “He speaks really well in the group, he’s got a great cricket mind and there’s no doubt you can see him as a future England captain.
“He’s grown so much in the last year, in the way he operates, the confidence and responsibility he’s been given.”
In Pope, it is clear that Stokes has a player soaking up all that he and McCullum have to teach about leading from the front and match tactics.
He has evolved from a player full of talent but often wracked with doubt, into a clear thinking and blossoming Test match cricketer and they have been impressed.
Now he has a big job on his plate as England’s No.3 as they try to get on top of New Zealand’s experienced attack – the first Test starts in Tauranga on Thursday – before facing the Aussies this summer.
“Baz McCullum and Stokesy have been great,” added Pope.
“They’ve allowed us young players to grow and I think each one of us feel like it’s our team now. At the same time I realise I’ve got a big job at No.3.
“If I can keep impressing there, who knows what the future holds?”