“He’s grown so much in the last year, the way he operates, the confidence and responsibility he’s been given. He speaks really well in the group, he’s got a great cricket mind. There’s no doubt you can see him as a future England captain.
“He’s been most likely probably the most spectacular growing cricketer in the group that I’ve seen over the past 12 months. From the place his confidence was to the place he’s now. How Popey has grown as a personality could be very spectacular.”
Pope, while appreciating the compliment, is in no rush to get to that point. Nor does he quite regard himself as a FEC (Future England Captain). His only previous dalliance with captaincy in professional cricket came in September 2021, when standing in for Rory Burns for Surrey’s County Championship match against Glamorgan. Beyond that were games at the helm for Surrey under-17s and Cranleigh School.
“I do not essentially see that. I’m going to maintain creating my cricket mind,” Pope said. “If that chance got here up in the longer term I’ll make sure that I can study as a lot as potential earlier than then.
“But at the same time, I realise I’ve got a big job at number three to keep doing. If I can keep impressing there who knows what the future holds. But I’ll keep learning and developing as an all-round cricketer as much as I can. If that happens (becoming England captain), great. If not, that’s okay.”
There’s little question Pope’s new residence at quantity three provides to the overriding sense of maturity across the 25-year previous. Even the acquisition of the role spoke of a child desirous to fast-track himself to seniority: calling up Stokes not lengthy after the allrounder had been made Test captain and all however demanding the one out there slot in the batting order.
“I can see cricket from a bit more perspective. It’s still my priority, I’m not one of those players who’ve had kids and seen a new side of things. It’s more that I’ve allowed the pressure to be taken off a little bit and trust you can bounce back after some low performances.”
Ollie Pope
Results, up to now, have been sound, averaging 40.82 – above the profession fee of 32.56 – from 10 Tests at first drop, with two of his three centuries so far. It is evident from these numbers we’re nonetheless on the early stage of all this with Pope, as we’re with the Test facet below Brendon McCullum.
“I think that tough (period) however long it was – and it felt like a long time – allowed me to get to where I am now. We’ve got this great mindset as a team at the minute and as a batting unit we’re not fearing getting out and I think we spent too long worrying about our techniques and worrying about how the bowler is going to get us out rather than work and score runs.
“That’s most likely exhibiting in the best way we’re enjoying on the minute with our strike charges and issues like that. But it is also permitting us to really feel like it’s our crew and cease spending time dwelling on too many negatives. That’s come down from the highest: Stokesy and Baz have been prime drawer in phrases of simplifying Test cricket for us all.”
Pope admits to being more robust emotionally, too. Back in the pandemic summer of 2020, he was the first cricketer to open up about the “intense and difficult” bio-secure bubbles. It was a welcome admission, especially as many of his team-mates felt the same but had not yet articulated as much.
“I’m not that skilled now – I’m solely 25 – however I’ll have the ability to cope with that loads higher now. I suppose Pakistan was the same atmosphere in phrases of you are not likely allowed to get out of the resort. But the best way we cope with it as a crew now’s loads higher.
“We ended up playing X-box and playing cricket and then spending too much time doing those two things, probably, for that whole summer. It was so hard to switch off and I let my cricket performance affect the mood I’m in as a person, which is a pretty bad way to be, I think, especially at this level when there’s so much pressure on.
“I can see cricket from a bit extra perspective. It’s nonetheless my precedence, I’m not a type of gamers who’ve had youngsters and seen a brand new facet of issues. It’s extra that I’ve allowed the stress to be taken off somewhat bit and belief you may bounce again after some low performances. If I used to be to return into that Covid bubble then I’d cope with it loads higher than I essentially have finished or did do in the previous.”
Focus, for now, will be squarely on batting. The distraction of wicketkeeping, which crept up on him on the previous tour of Pakistan when Ben Foakes fell ill on the morning of the first Test, and carried over into the second Test for tactical reasons, looks to have come to an end. Unless there is another spanner in the works, which was the case back on the 2019 tour here when Pope took the gloves in Hamilton after Jos Buttler broke a finger. He has his own with him this time, having borrowed Foakes’ in Rawalpindi and Multan.
“I’m to see that: see in the event that they regulate, how they play, barely. But clearly on the similar time that sequence in the summer time we gained three-nil however in every of these Test matches there have been factors that it may have gone both means in order that they’ll most likely see it from that perspective they usually’ll keep on with what they do effectively and doubtless belief what they do in their very own circumstances.
“It’s exciting, we’ve sort of seen glimpses of the way we play going to other teams at points and so it’ll be interesting to see if anything that we’ve done has rubbed off on them.”
Vithushan Ehantharajah is an affiliate editor at ESPNcricinfo