England batter Ollie Pope on getting the first century and lucky charm Aaron Ramsdale
18/07/2024
Trent Bridge Cricket Ground, Nottingham, UK
18/07/2024
Trent Bridge Cricket Ground, Nottingham, UK
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SportsTranscript
00:00Hi Oli, how pleased are you today to get the first century of the test summer after being put in on a pitch that had a bit in it?
00:10Yeah absolutely, it's always a special moment getting 100 but I think we're probably going to do the same on the toss but again it's a pretty good pitch too so I think to go and put on 420 after getting put into bats is a good effort and yeah happy with the way I went about stuff.
00:26Obviously a nice couple of drops which always helps things but yeah a good day for us and I think the way Duckett set us off and even the way Smithy played at the end, Stokesy went about his stuff, we'll see how good a total it is tomorrow I think.
00:41Knowing that Ben was going to bowl first because he thought there was a bit in it, what does that do to the mindset when you go out there knowing that there is a bit for the bowlers out there?
00:50Yeah I thought we'd just be bowling today so I thought they might have batted first, I think we probably had a few memories from our New Zealand test here where Johnny went berserk at the end so I thought we were just going to definitely be in the field but no I think like I said to go on and put on 420 in such quick time again leaving four days left in the game on a good pitch so I think it's a very pleasing day for us and hopefully it's a good enough score.
01:20Aaron Ramsdale is out there taking credit for the hundreds, he says when he turns up you get runs, can you just tell us a wee bit about your friendship there and getting him over here to watch?
01:30Yeah I'm obviously a big Arsenal fan so I go and support him a fair bit and it seems to be my lucky charm on the cricket pitch as well so he just messaged me last night and I managed to sort him a couple of tickets, didn't expect him to be in the skybox so no I think he loves his cricket and I love watching Arsenal play so it's great for him to be here and I think he sat with my family on the day which was class for them, they love it too, they probably had too many questions.
01:55We just had Kevin Sinclair in there talking us through his celebration, who's the player likeliest in the England dressing room to pull one of those out?
02:02Oh we were actually talking about it, I think we said Bash would try a Roly-Poly, I'm not sure we'll see it ever but I think that's the closest to what we've got in the England team is a Roly-Poly from Bash.
02:14Hi Oli, you spoke recently about how tough you found it coming back to England in the Championship and then you just joked about benefiting from a couple of drops but what can you take from that innings you played there and what kind of confidence does it give you at the start of this summer?
02:35Yeah I think a lot, I think the way I went about my stuff at Lourdes I think it was weird in the county stuff I felt like I was becoming a better player but for the first time for me the runs weren't coming for Surrey and I couldn't really work out why and I couldn't really tell you maybe a mindset thing I'm not really sure but I think I felt really good last week at Lourdes so to make it count and spend a lot of time in the middle today is really pleasing for me because I've not done enough of it in the Surrey stuff this summer.
03:03Yeah hopefully, obviously India started really well but hopefully I can use it and really kick on for the rest of the test summer.
03:10Obviously you're not going to complain about the drops but what is it like mentally when you get dropped before lunch, you go into lunch presumably just to have a quiet word with yourself and then you get dropped soon after lunch, what is it like in that moment?
03:24It's a good feeling, I think drop catches, I mean no one means to drop them but I think it's kind of like a player miss I see it as, sometimes I'd slash at the odd wide one and miss it and go lucky I didn't nick that so I think for me I just kind of use it as a bit of a lesson and right that's probably not the option to take.
03:45I think batting, you're never going to be completely perfect and another day I might have just had a player miss and I would have got the same message from the shots that I played but I think cricket kind of goes in roundabouts, I felt like my luck wasn't with me when I was in my county stint and every now and again you get a little bit of luck on the international stuff and it's just about trying to make it count as much as you can.
04:15You mentioned India, how conscious were you in India and then coming into this summer that you played that amazing knock in Hyderabad, one of the all time greats, maybe a career defining knock and then weren't quite able to back that up over the rest of the series?
04:45I just wasn't at my best for the other four games, I was putting in all the work that I could possibly so obviously frustrating missing out but I've sort of penciled in, I looked at this summer and the schedule, we obviously had quite a lot of cricket leading into this stuff but maybe partially why I didn't score as many as I wanted for Surrey was because I know I want to be kind of peaking at this point and it's just about trying to cash in as much as you can when you're playing in your own conditions and trying to make your game in as good a place as possible.
05:15As good a place as you possibly can to give yourself the best opportunity to go out and put some beginnings together.
05:21Obviously we've seen some changes to the team for this summer, how much does that put you other guys who've been established in the side almost on notice that it's not just a cosy set up that you do have to keep performing in order to keep retaining your place in this side?
05:39Yeah I think international sports always going to be like that, we're obviously trying to pick our best six batters, our wicket keeper and then you've got four seamers with Stokes here and our best spinner and I think it's pretty clear that that's what they want to do and they kind of want to stick with that as well but at the same time international sports is brutal in a way that you know there's always going to be someone breathing down you so there's always an expectation to perform and I think for us it's almost about
06:09creating that kind of safe environment while you're in the team and I think Baz says you want to plan to live forever and sort of live as if you died tomorrow and all that so it's quite, and that's how we sort of want to live by, we want to enjoy every minute of it and sort of try and get the best out of each other and that's the environment that's going to allow guys like Smithy the way he's played in these, I know he only made 36 today but I thought the way he went about his innings was class and I think Gussie the way he did his stuff and I think that environment
06:39obviously you feel, you feel there's always going to be a little bit of pressure but the calmness in the changing room and the nature of how we're going about our days as England cricketers is exactly why those guys are able just to come in and succeed straight away.
06:52Have you had doubts about yourself, about your game in that period?
07:08Not really, I think I've, I wouldn't say doubts but I think you're kind of just like why is everyone else in the country scoring runs in county cricket but England's number three isn't going out and out and scoring runs?
07:21England's number three isn't going out and averaging 50 this summer but I think the nature of it is, I think for us it's not, it's not always as easy as doing that, there's different challenges in county cricket so I think that's, there wasn't any doubts but I think taking that week off when we played against Essex and Trez came to London and we did some really good work there which has actually I think put me in really good stead for this test summer.
07:46I think that's probably what I put it down for is the stuff that I've done away from county cricket and the week leading up to it and the two weeks leading up to it and trying to sort of prepare myself as best as I can for their attack so I think yeah, it was never a doubt but you're kind of just frustrated sometimes why it's not always happening but I think that's just cricket for you, I mean you want to go and score 100 every day but sometimes it doesn't work that way.
08:13Just going back to Aaron, you said he's your lucky charm, what's happened in the past to make you think that?
08:20Oh no, he just came, the only other, well he's come to two other games and one of them I scored 200 so I think, and it always happens to be the day he's there that I get the runs so I think that's, yeah he can come more often.
08:32Why don't you just get a little Aaron Ramsdale doll and just carry it around?
08:36Yeah maybe, maybe, I think he can probably sort that out for me I'm sure.
08:40Thanks.
08:41Thank you, cheers.
08:42Cheers.