NZ vs ENG | Wicket-keepeing was bit of surprise but was prepared for it, reveals Ollie Pope
Ollie Pope has revealed that being asked to keep wickets for England was surely a surprise but then he added that he was prepared for it as he looks to grab any opportunity available. Pope, having kept wickets for only five times in his first-class career, has done an impressive job so far.
Having lost the series opener by an innings and 65 runs, England headed into the second Test match looking to level the series against New Zealand who lost two of their key players to injuries. But the visitors too were hit by the storm of injuries, as they lost their wicket-keeper and dependable batsman Jos Buttler on the eve of the series decider.Â
With no specialist back-up keeper in the squad, England turned to young Ollie Pope to stand guard behind the stumps and the youngster has done a fabulous job so far on his first day in office, as he didn’t put a foot wrong in the field. Although Pope started off as a wicketkeeper but has kept only a handful number of times, five to be exact, in his first-class career.
"I've seen a lot of talk on social media the last few days. I'm a keeper, I've kept since I was eight years old," Pope told the BBC.
"Since I've become a professional, it's obviously just been limited, the amount I've done, with Foakesy (Ben Foakes) being at Surrey, but it's something I've had on my radar since the moment I got told I was coming on this tour. So if the opportunity were to come around I just made sure that I was ready and hopefully, that shows in my performance."
Pope, who is playing just his fourth Test match, is in the side as a specialist batsman but he went on to share that he is ready to grab any opportunity that comes his way.
"At the moment my focus in on my batting going forward but at the same time at Surrey, we've got Foakesy so the amount of game time I get I don't know. I'm going to keep going as much as I can, if I'm not getting the game time hopefully the training will look after itself and then if I do get a go in the games whenever it does happen hopefully I can do a good job," he said.
The keeping duty came out of the blue for Pope as Buttler suffered back spasms just the day before the encounter but the Surrey lad shared that he was prepared for it. He also added that he felt pretty good taking to the field after the rain break.
"It was a different role, I feel pretty good this mornin. The body feels good. A bit of a surprise but I always had it on my radar that something like this could happen so yeah, I was prepared for it. I like keeping, I still see myself as a keeper. Obviously I haven't done a massive amount ... but it's still something in my game I want to keep going so I was excited and ready to go," Pope said.
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