England captain Ollie Pope on Englands 3rd test against Sri Lanka at the Oval
04/09/2024
Oval Cricket Ground, London, UK
04/09/2024
Oval Cricket Ground, London, UK
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00:00This is about Brendan McCullough taking over both of us and extending his contract to 2027.
00:19What's your reaction to that?
00:21Yeah, I think it's really exciting, obviously extending with us Red Bull players for a while,
00:26which is awesome for us, I think he was contracted until the end of the Ashes, so I think it's awesome for us to have him on for as long as we can.
00:33And then obviously the crossover into the White Bull stuff is really exciting.
00:36I think we've seen the impact he's had on us as a test team, as individuals and as a team in general,
00:44which I think he can then transfer into the White Bull stuff as well.
00:48He brings the best out of each other, he's a real optimist.
00:52I think that's really good in the cricket world, so very exciting for English cricket.
00:57How has he impacted you personally?
00:59Yeah, I think he's just given that confidence and that freedom.
01:03I think he's got a great outlook on the game in general and just being able to draw a line under your best and your worst weeks as well.
01:12I think that's probably one of his biggest skills as a player, but now he's got that into his coaching as well.
01:18Like I said, he's a massive optimist and he's never going to have your badge.
01:23He's a thinker of the game and he thinks a lot about it, but he's never going to have your badge for playing a positive shot.
01:29So when you want to go and do that, you know as a batter, for example, if you've made a mistake in your own game.
01:36The last one, I guess, you feel like me in a test match has been criticised sometimes by the coach.
01:42I think the way he talks about batting in general is in a real positive way.
01:48As a Red Bull specialist, as the vice-captain of this test team, are you concerned at all that his attention on the test team might be diluted by the one day of the White Bull transfer?
01:57Oh, I'd be very surprised.
01:59I think the way he's come in, I kind of understand him as a person and how he works.
02:04I'd be very surprised if he gave that impression at all.
02:07He's obviously going to have a little bit more time on the road with a busy winter ahead.
02:12But I think the way he is as a person, when you're with him, he's 100% with you.
02:17So I'm sure that won't affect that.
02:19In terms of this final test you're going into, Josh Cole comes in. What have you seen in him?
02:25He's obviously got a massive ceiling and he's massive himself as well, which is pretty handy as a bubbler.
02:32So when you're 6'7", you can get it down, pushing up to 85-90 mark and with a bit of swing with the left arm angle, there's a lot to like about it.
02:42I think it's a real exciting week for him, clearly.
02:46It's the last match of the series.
02:48We've tuned him up, but I think he's obviously still going to have those nerves coming in.
02:52But we know what he can do moving forward and it's a great week for him to come in, learn a little bit and show off exactly what he can do.
03:00In terms of your format, it's been made about it obviously because you've got the captaincy as well.
03:05Do you feel having the captaincy is affecting your batting?
03:08To be honest, I don't know.
03:10I think last week I played a pretty average shot in the first inning, which could happen.
03:15But that's nothing to do with the captaincy.
03:18Like I said, I've made it pretty good in the first week.
03:21I was probably trying to juggle the tour a bit too much and last week I've kind of just put it down to an average shot.
03:26But I'm feeling good in the nets and hopefully going to put some runs in over the weekend.
03:31So how are you coming here? Do you know you've got such a good record as well?
03:34Yeah, it's always nice. It's always special coming to the IWL.
03:36I've played obviously a fabulous first-class cricket and white-balling with a couple of test matches here as well.
03:41It's a great place to bat, obviously some pace in the wicket and a quick outfield as well.
03:46So yeah, it's always nice coming back here and hopefully, like I said, put some together.
03:52Finally for me, it's Greg Portman's funeral this afternoon.
03:56I just wonder your thoughts, your tributes, how will you remember him?
04:00I think he's obviously a legend in the game, but I think his people skills were fantastic as well.
04:06I was fortunate enough to work with him for around three years in England and I was a young man at coming through.
04:13I think, especially in the hardest times, he had some real everything.
04:17I know he had his struggles when he was a player as well.
04:20But I think just talking to him on a personal level, I'll always remember that.
04:24I think I said it the other week, but I remember him saying one time that the amount of runs you get don't dictate you as a person.
04:32I think sometimes as a young player you feel that, you feel very judged.
04:36So I think it's his people skills and obviously as a coach as well, massively, massively missed.
04:42It'll obviously be a special day today, remembering the great man.
04:47Greg, it's amazing what the world gets from this competition.
04:53You're on the cusp now of winning six matches in a summer.
04:57What would it mean to a team to finish the season 6-0, as the Americans would say?
05:06Yeah, it'd be awesome.
05:08I think we obviously went to India this winter and didn't quite go as planned.
05:14I think a few years ago when we went to India it felt like that was almost a bit of a hangover from that series.
05:21We kind of let that affect us that summer.
05:24But I think the way we've drawn a line under how that's gone and fit straight back into how we wanted to play our career in England is credit to everybody.
05:33I guess the way Stokes has led as well throughout.
05:37There's just a real good energy about it.
05:39Yeah, it'd be special to win 6-0 this summer.
05:44And I think winning's a habit, isn't it?
05:47Going forward you're a person who lives dead.
05:49Obviously we've got a lot more cricket to come up.
05:51We've got away tour starting in a couple of weeks, three or four weeks as well.
05:56So that's an exciting thing.
05:58Focus on this week and hopefully we can get the job done and get that 6-0.
06:03You've got two victories as an England captain.
06:05That's as many as one gets.
06:08Has this increased your desire or interest in doing it again at some point in the future?
06:14Yeah, absolutely. I've loved it.
06:16Like I said, I know there's been a lot made about me not getting the runs that I would have liked and I'm well aware of that.
06:23As a batter I put myself under enough pressure when I'm captain or not.
06:29I want to go in every game and help the team win games with the bat.
06:32But as a captain I've got another opportunity to go in and do that and try and get the best out of the bowlers and the rest of the team as well on the pitch.
06:39It's been a massive honour over the last couple of weeks to captain.
06:43Like I said, I've really enjoyed it.
06:45It's definitely something that I'd like to do moving forward.
06:50The focus is on this week and trying to get a 3-0 win.
06:55I'm obviously excited for the Stokes series.
06:57Obviously, we missed it massively.
06:59We couldn't even go home as we wanted to come around and watch us for the last few weeks.
07:04It'll be great to have him back.
07:06It'll be a bit of time for reflection for me as to why I did well and why I did badly after this series.
07:11Like I said, not long before we go to Pakistan and start a new series away.
07:18I just wonder, in terms of you getting a good score this series, have you done anything different or will you do anything different?
07:24I know there's not much time to do the test, but have you changed anything about your approach to maybe shift the success of the team?
07:31No, not really.
07:33I think I've learned in the past when we try and tinker mid-series that it's quite a hard time to do it.
07:38I think it's just about clearing the heads.
07:41I guess I like to look back on footage and games I have.
07:44I feel like I've played some of my best stuff.
07:47I think it's more just that mindset.
07:50That's the main thing for me.
07:52Like I said, the top edge of the pool show got caught deep point last week.
07:57I was pretty frustrated with myself for that, but that's nothing to do with technique.
08:02It's probably more just drawing a line under it and getting back on the footage when I've been playing my best.
08:08Some of the evils I played earlier in the summer.
08:11I'm just drawing on some of the positives from that and taking that into this week.
08:15If you could just revisit on Josh Holt, can you tell us as a batter what is the unique proposition that he brings with the angle and the height?
08:27Can you explain what makes it difficult?
08:32Clearly, the height.
08:35When you get that extra bounce, you can draw in some more edges with that extra bounce.
08:41It makes it a lot harder to drive the ball, especially if there is a little bit of bounce at the end, which there can be, especially early in the game.
08:48The angle is a right-hander.
08:51Obviously, we've played four right-arm singles in our first two games.
08:57It's just something different for the bats to think about in the opposition.
09:02It's more coming into the right-hander and away from the left-hander with that swing.
09:08It's a point of difference.
09:10He's got some good pace as well when he's clicking in the net.
09:15It's just really exciting, I think, for him.
09:19We've seen some really successful left-arm singers in world cricket.
09:23He's got a great opportunity to step onto the international stage and show what he can do.
09:29When you look at his sort of ability to play a handful of games, really, in the numbers, it's not as though he's been creamed off the top of the averages to come into England team.
09:36It's the skills and the ability.
09:38Can you say a bit about this England team and the openness with which to choose players based on what they can do, not what they have done?
09:47Yeah, absolutely.
09:48I think we've obviously seen some of the guys.
09:51I guess James Smith obviously got picked off what he had been doing for Surrey.
09:54And Starlet Blair, he was.
09:56So did George Cox as well.
09:58There's the numbers.
10:00Sometimes he thinks he's up.
10:01There's obviously a bigger picture with some of the guys.
10:03Obviously, Sheldon Bashir, the way he's done.
10:06And I think, obviously, Josh Hull coming in and doing the seeding that he has as well.
10:11It just shows there's a little bit more to the numbers.
10:15And I think it's credit to the way the guys have got about it.
10:18And all of this from, I guess, Brendan and Ben to get these guys in the squad at such a young age as well.
10:25I know what it meant to me when I came in at 20.
10:29I only played two games before.
10:30Actually, I dropped and missed out for a little while.
10:33But I drew so much from those two experiences I had back then that put me in good stead for when I got back into the side.
10:40So I think, why not?
10:42I mean, this is a great opportunity for here.
10:44And as I said, you can go and show exactly what you can do at the international stage.
10:49Any more questions before we do the end of the meeting?
10:53Okay, thank you.
10:56Cheers.