"My dream is to play all three formats for England. I see myself as a white-ball player as well"
Wednesday 29 January 2020 10:21, UK
Ollie Pope is eager to force his way into England's white-ball set-up after cementing a spot in the Test middle order.
Pope, 22, struck his maiden Test ton as well as two fifties from the No 6 spot in the 3-1 series win over South Africa.
The Surrey star now hopes to play limited-overs cricket - but accepts it could take a while for him to make that team with England reigning 50-over world champions and runners-up in the previous T20 World Cup, in 2016.
"My dream is to play all three formats for England. I see myself as a white-ball player as well but our team is pretty established at the moment," said Pope, who averages almost 38 for Surrey in List A cricket.
"They've got a great batting line-up and a great middle order so if I want to get in that side I've got to bide my time, score my runs in county cricket and hopefully keep scoring Test runs. Then it will look after itself."
Pope shared a century stand with captain Joe Root in the first innings of the final Test in Johannesburg, which England went on to win by 191 runs.
"It's quite funny because Rooty has been one of my favourite players over the last 10 years - watching him play has been awesome," said the Chelsea-born batsman.
"Then the other day he hit a shot - one of those ramps - and said 'I learned that one of you!' That's a big compliment from one of my favourite players growing up.
"I learn a lot off him - that's just the way batting works. You're always learning from Rooty and Ben Stokes. They set a benchmark from a batting point of view.
"They're always looking ahead, always thinking about that next series coming up and how they can prepare themselves best for that. That's definitely what I'll be learning to do from now on as well."
Stokes says that Pope - whose maiden century was an unbeaten 135 in Port Elizabeth, during which he played a number of innovative shots off Kagiso Rabada - reminds him of five-time Ashes winner Ian Bell.
"Ollie is already getting likened to Bell by the press and, to be honest, he is in the changing room as well," said Stokes, named Player of the Series in South Africa.
"He showed everything during that hundred in PE, how to build an innings and then when he batted with the tail the white-ball shots came out.
"They weren't just against anybody, they were against Rabada, the second-best bowler in the world, who bowls fast.
"It's the modern way, every 22-year-old is playing shots like that but to come and do it on the biggest stage in Test cricket, against one of the best bowlers in the world, I think shows how good a player Ollie is."
Watch the first ODI between South Africa and England, in Cape Town, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 10.30am on Tuesday.
