Renewed Pope can be a future England leader
Warm-up captaincy for batsman
WHEN Ollie Pope was bowled around his legs by Pat Cummins in the final Ashes Test in Hobart in January, he looked a shadow of the 22-year-old who had two years earlier become the youngest England player to score a century since Alastair Cook.
That knock in Port Elizabeth was meant to be the start of something special but Pope’s journey for England stuttered along, in and out of the XI and without ever looking like fulfilling his great expectations. Perhaps until this summer, at least.
Pope’s career remains a work in progress but, after a summer under BazBall, things are different. Now, he looks and sounds like a man with all the confidence in the world. A man thriving in an environment allowing him to flourish.
Pope did not play in the West Indies series in March but, after calling Ben Stokes at the start of the season and telling the England captain he wanted to bat at three, the 24-yearold has seized his opportunity and is no longer fretting about his place.
‘I felt that in the summer. Playing at three for England in Test cricket is a big role. As soon as I was given that, I saw myself as more of a leader,’ said Pope.
‘It’s nothing that’s necessarily changed. It’s the way everyone’s feeling at the moment. We feel like it’s our team in a way, rather than boys feeling like they’re playing for their places. It’s more like this is us, our team, we can own it, we can dictate how we want to play.’
That feeling of being a leader amplified this week when, at breakfast on Tuesday morning, head coach Brendon McCullum told Pope that he would be captaining England during their warm-up match against England Lions, in a move by the management to help players develop under pressure.
‘It was classic Baz style,’ joked Pope. ‘I was sat with (Zak) Crawley and (Jack) Leachy and he was like, “You will skipper this week, all good?” and I was like “Absolutely”.’
Pope responded by hitting 146 off 120 deliveries on a day when England racked up more than 500 in less than 80 overs. And he admitted that maybe down the line it could be a role for him.
He said: ‘It’s not something that I go, “I’d love to be England captain” but at the same time I believe I’ve got a good cricket brain. I think about cricket a lot and I see the game in a way where I don’t just think about my batting. Whether that be for Surrey or whoever, if an opportunity arose, it’s something I’d definitely be keen to do.
‘We’ve got the best captain in the world at the minute. Everyone’s loving playing under Stokesy, but if it was something that happened in the future, then amazing. It’s something that I’d love but at the same time I realise I’ve got to score my runs. I don’t want to be looking too far ahead about that stuff.’
Pope impressed last summer without really blowing the roof down numbers wise, averaging 38 across seven Tests including his second Test hundred against New Zealand at Trent Bridge.
And he revealed how playing with a shift in mindset allowed him to thrive.
‘There’s pressure every week and it’s trying to see things from a positive outlook rather than thinking, “If I play this shot, I might get out”. It’s more, “There’s a big gap there, I want to hit it through that”,’ he said.