SA vs ENG | Watling and Root double tons in NZ great learning experience, reveals Ollie Pope

Young England batsman Ollie Pope, who finished off the New Zealand tour with a gritty 75, showed glimpses of that knock in the second warm-up game in South Africa as he scored a flamboyant century after missing out on the first tour game. Pope scored an impressive 132 from 145 balls in the game. The 21-year-old revealed that watching two impressive double tons from BJ Watling and Joe Root, 205 and 226 respectively, in hostile conditions in New Zealand helped him immensely in shaping up his style of play.

"In New Zealand the wickets were good value, fairly slow. Watching the way BJ Watling went about his stuff and Rooty when he got his double hundred. You can almost be really specific and wait for the ball to get right in your area. The way I got out in the first Test was with right shots, I got a bit greedy. You don’t need to take those risks. If I keep batting time, face as many balls as I can, hopefully, the rewards will come," Pope told Sky Sports.

"It's nice [to start the tour with 100]. It's nice to get some time in the middle. I felt good out there, going into the Tests knowing that I’ve got used to the wickets a little bit, adapted my game a little bit. Hopefully, I can take that into the first Test."

Jofra Archer, Stuart Broad and Jack Leach have so far been unable to feature in the warm-up games as illness struck the visitors, while Joe Denly has been suffering from "flu-ey" symptoms. Fortunately for England, the bowlers trained on Saturday as Pope shared that the players falling ill before the series is a bit strange

"The boys have been training this afternoon and they're getting back to it now. It's been a bit of a strange start to the tour with everyone being injured or ill. This was supposed to be a first-class game but it ended up not being because we didn't have the seamers to put out."