Ollie Pope

England|Middle order Batter
Ollie Pope
INTL CAREER: 2018 - 2025
Browse Other Players
South Africa
All

Alphabetically sorted top ten of players who have played the most matches across formats in the last 12 months

Full Name

Oliver John Douglas Pope

Born

January 02, 1998, Chelsea, Middlesex

Age

27y 216d

Batting Style

Right hand Bat

Fielding Position

Wicketkeeper

Playing Role

Middle order Batter

Education

Cranleigh School, Surrey

Ollie Pope's rapid transition from inventive T20 strokemaker to heavy Championship run scorer attracted the attention of England's national selector Ed Smith when Pope was given a Test debut against India as a specialist batsman in the summer of 2018. To bat at No. 4 after only 15 first-class matches against such powerful opposition was a considerable challenge. He played only two Tests, but he had put down a marker, and at season's end he had contributed 986 runs at an average of 70.43 to Surrey's title-winning season, including a sparkling unbeaten 158 against Yorkshire at The Oval, a career-best, as well as some flashes of ambition in limited-overs formats.

In 2019, he suffered an early setback when fielding in a game against Essex, as he dislocated his shoulder diving to stop a ball. It required surgery, but time out of the game proved to be a positive - "it gave me time to reflect and think about what I can do to take my batting to the next level," he reflected. He shifted his stance, batting on middle-and-off rather than middle, and the change worked immediately, as he hit an unbeaten 221 in his first Championship game back. He was on standby as a concussion substitute throughout the Ashes summer, though remained unused, but his call-up for the winter tour of New Zealand seemed to suggest a chance to make the No. 6 spot his own would be forthcoming.

And so it would prove. Despite unexpectedly keeping wicket in the second Test of that series after a late injury to Jos Buttler, Pope impressed with a fluent 75 in partnership with Joe Root, before starring on the tour to South Africa. His unbeaten 61 underpinned England's effort at Cape Town, and in their win at Port Elizabeth he was superb, compiling a maiden hundred and becoming England's young centurion since Alastair Cook in the process. He also proved himself as an electric close fielder, taking several catches under the helmet over the course of the tour.

Fallow periods followed, not least a dispiriting 2021/22 Ashes of 67 runs from three Tests which felt like the start of a necessary absence, away from the limelight. However, Ben Stokes' appointment as Test captain at the start of the following summer brought with it an opportunity. Pope took the initiative to call Stokes and ask to bat three, the only position available in the batting line-up. The skipper appreciated the chutzpah and agreed. Pope held up his end of the deal not just with runs (791 in 12 Tests, two centuries among them) but rate of scoring (75.04). Stokes rewarded him with greater responsibility as unofficial vice-captain, which saw Pope take the reins for warm-up matches ahead of the winter's tours of Pakistan and New Zealand.

Pope, a part-time wicketkeeper full of batting invention, made great strides for Surrey in 2017 in all three formats. It was his trickery as a Twenty20 batsman that most won most admirers, but there was also a maiden Championship century. That hundred came in only his third Championship appearance, against Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl, and was full of energetic cuts and pulls as he ended Hampshire's hopes of a last-day victory, the innings culminating in slightly hollow circumstances with an over from the part-time bowling of James Vince, the England batsman, as Hampshire gloomily awaited the draw.

His Championship debut also made him part of a historic moment when Surrey fielded four teenagers against Middlesex at The Oval, the first time that had happened in a Championship match since World War 2.

Pope's 50-over debut had come in 2016, in a Royal London Cup semi-final victory against Yorkshire at Headingley in 2016; he did not take the gloves - he was one of five wicketkeepers in the Surrey side with a sixth, the coach Alec Stewart, looking on, but immediately revealed his busy batting style. Unfortunately for him, the highest-profile moment of his 2017 summer was his drop of Alex Hales - on 9 - in the 50-over final; Hales went on to make a record-breaking 187 not out.
ESPNcricinfo staff

Ollie Pope Career Stats

Batting & Fielding

FormatMatInnsNORunsHSAveBFSR100s50s4s6sCtSt
Tests611075360720535.36560464.3691642718771
FC12420017831027445.401269365.4624311017501601
List A3128576793*33.3496579.4805521190
T20s747112158399*26.831213130.500614727313

Bowling

FormatMatInnsBallsRunsWktsBBIBBMAveEconSR4w5w10w
Tests61------------
FC12416100---10.00-000
List A31------------
T20s74------------

Ollie Pope T20 Stats

Batting & Fielding

TournamentTeamsMatInnsNORunsHSAveBFSR100s50s4s6sCtSt
Vitality BlastSUR555211129499*31.56961134.650512520240
BBLAS9901915721.22156122.430113553
Men's 1002 teams77045126.425384.90004100
ILT20GG22018189.002090.00002020

Bowling

TournamentTeamsMatInnsBallsRunsWktsBBIBBMAveEconSR4w5w10w
Vitality BlastSUR55------------
BBLAS9------------
Men's 1002 teams7------------
ILT20GG2------------
Oliver John Douglas Pope

Explore Statsguru Analysis

Test

Recent Matches of Ollie Pope

Videos of Ollie Pope

Photos of Ollie Pope

Ollie Pope fell in the 20s in both innings
Mohammed Siraj got Ollie Pope lbw for the second time in the Test
Ollie Pope and Zak Crawley tussle for a catch
Ollie Pope has a word with Yashasvi Jaiswal as they walk off for lunch
Ben Stokes and Ollie Pope take part in a minute's applause for Graham Thorpe
Mohammed Siraj successfully reviewed for lbw against Ollie Pope