Upswing in form as England’s No 3 has been inspired by McCullum and Stokes in seeing the runs rather than the wickets, the Surrey batter tells Taha Hashim
Upswing in form as England’s No 3 has been inspired by McCullum and Stokes in seeing the runs rather than the wickets, says batterwant to talk numbers with Ollie Pope. Yes, we’ll get to that Test No 3 spot, where he is averaging 41.63 and striking at a breezy 75 over the past yearAfter a nightmare Ashes tour, he was the kid whose potential wasn’t turning into something substantial. Now he’s a staple of the future England captain conversation.
But even when the Oval track has looked more nibbly recently, helping the cause of Surrey’s seamers – “We wanted to win titles, and you’ve got to do that by taking 20 wickets every week” – Pope has still found a way. He trusts the bounce, relishes the quick outfield, and there’s this too: “I think I’ve just become a better player over the last two years.”
Pope went to work on his game and returned to the XI as soon as Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes started calling the shots.and a couple of Test tons in a new role at No 3. The forward charge has echoes of McCullum’s own brawn back in the day, but the key influence is Joe Root and his fourth-innings hundred against New Zealand at Lord’s last summer. “I was watching him face [Tim] Southee, and I was like: ‘How does Rooty get so many bad balls?’ That’s exactly why, because he was doing this walk down the wicket and clip through midwicket to their best balls.”
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