Ollie Pope’s assured innings hints at bright future in England middle order
There are some young players who you only need to see a handful of times before coming to the conclusion they have a long and distinguished international career ahead of them. Ollie Pope, after his performance during this third Test against South Africa, can undoubtedly be classed among that rare group.
It was not just that Pope, at 22 years and 15 days, became the youngest Englishman to score a Test century since Alastair Cook back in 2006 at Nagpur. It was everything about his innings, from the composure shown to get through a tricky period during the final session of day one, to the ability to grind through 26 balls in the 80s after the dismissals of Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler on the second afternoon, then the chutzpah to go into T20 mode once he had reached three figures and England were eyeing a declaration.
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Put simply, Pope is the best young batsman England have had since Joe Root started his career, also at Nagpur, albeit at a different ground from Cook, in 2012.
Like the current England captain, Pope scored his first hundred in his sixth Test. The former England spinner Gareth Batty, a player-coach at Surrey who is covering this series for TalkSport, says: “His greatest quality is that he reminds me of Joe Root at the start of his career. You look at Popey and how he dissects the game and knows how he’s going to match up to certain bowlers. That’s such an impressive thing from a young kid.
“You look at his technique and there’s not a lot to go wrong. There’s no obvious faults against any type of bowling. He’s a smart kid – he’s worked it out.”
Right now it is too early to say whether Pope will go on to reach the same level as Root or Cook, England’s all-time leading run-scorer. But it’s not bad company to be in so early in his career.
Like that pair, Pope also made his Test debut against India – at Lord’s in the summer of 2018. Aged just 20, he was asked to bat at No 4 for his country despite the fact he was lower down the order at Surrey. Pope was dropped after two matches.
However, such has been his form in first-class cricket at county level, where he averages 58.06, he was recalled this winter and was given more of a chance of success by being asked to bat at No 6.
A career-best score of 75 in the second Test against New Zealand at Hamilton before Christmas set him on his way before another half-century in his next appearance at Cape Town at the start of this month enabled England to manufacture a first-innings lead that proved decisive in their series-levelling victory.
This performance from Pope, though, was on another level and suggests a player who already feels at home on this stage.
That was evident when Pope executed two audacious ramp shots against Kagiso Rabada to move on to 120. For Batty it brought back memories of his first encounter with Pope. “The first time I saw him was in a net in the summer of 2016,” he says. “He’d signed pro the previous winter and would have been 18. Jade [Dernbach] and a few of the other guys were bowling in the nets before the white-ball part of the season started. Stuart Meaker [the former England fast bowler] was actually bowling over-the-line fast and this little kid came in and starting ramping these 90mph balls.
“Straight away I thought this kid is smart – smart and stupid all in the same breath. By the end of that net Jade came up to me and said: ‘This kid has got to play, we’ll get him in the team.’ He’s not really looked back from there.”
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Young players often get worked out by opposition bowlers but as Batty pointed out there are no obvious flaws in his technique and even if one were to develop, he doesn’t believe the youngster would be affected by the forensic analysis that so many new players are subjected to by former players – most usually England captains – in the media. “No, he’s got that inner confidence,” says Batty. “That was probably the thing I saw in those first nets. I just thought: ‘Wow, that’s a real statement that you’re making against senior players who’ve played for England.’ Don’t underestimate that because for a young kid it would have been quite understandable if they were overawed but he’s that’s never been the case with him.”
He proved as much here in Port Elizabeth.
