Ollie Pope revealed a heart to heart with his mentor Alec Stewart helped pave the way for his timely return to form against New Zealand.
Pope’s association with the former England captain runs deep, with the 61-year-old overseeing his rise through the ranks as Surrey’s director of cricket.
And it was Stewart who Pope sought out after a poor series in Pakistan, during which he averaged just 11, raised difficult questions over his role in the side.
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The pair linked up at the Kia Oval for a pep talk that appeared to pay dividends on day two of the first Test in Christchurch, where Pope’s 77 and an unbeaten 132 from Harry Brook changed England’s fortunes.
After coming together at 71 for for four, their stand of 151 helped carry the tourists to 319 for five at the close – just 29 behind with power to add.
Pope’s score was 22 more than he managed in five innings combined on the spinning pitches of Multan and Islamabad and he credited Stewart with helping him find focus.
“I didn’t get Stewy throwing balls on the dog stick, he’s too high up for that I think,” he said.
“But I had an open discussion with him and it’s probably healthy to talk to someone from outside who’s been watching you. Sometimes that’s a nice opinion to have. I gained a lot from going back and talking to him.
“Pakistan wasn’t an easy tour and I wasn’t good enough to find a way. For me, it was really important to draw a line under it.
Hopefully I can kick on and score a lot more runs in this series
“I knew if I could get in the right headspace I could start the series strongly; fortunately I’ve done that and hopefully I can kick on and score a lot more runs in this series.”
Pope’s productive knock also coincided with a shift in role, taking the wicketkeeping gloves after Jordan Cox’s broken thumb and shifting down from number three in the order to six.
There is a school of thought that Pope’s stroke-making style is better suited to the lower-middle order and seeing him thrive there only underlines that argument.
But while Pope stands ready to fill whatever slot his team-mates need from him – including extending his temporary stint with the gloves for the remainder of the series – he made it clear he has no interest in abandoning the pivotal position he has held for the last two-and-a-half years.
“I want to be number three; I want to keep trying to make it mine,” he said.
“I’ve had too many low scores there but I’ve also managed to put together some good knocks this year. It’s definitely a job I want to keep doing.”
Despite his productive stay, Pope would be forgiven for cursing his bad luck after falling to a staggeringly good one-handed catch from Glenn Phillips.
That display of skill and athleticism was out of sync with an otherwise sloppy display from the Kiwis, who dropped Brook on four separate occasions (on 18, 41, 70 and 106) and also spilled chances from Ben Duckett and Ben Stokes.
“As I was walking off Brooky came and apologised, I was wondering why he made a beeline for me,” he said.
“That was a great catch from Glenn, fair play to him, but another day that goes for four and you’re off and running to make a really big score. It’s funny how the game goes.”
