Ollie Pope shows his class for Surrey and readiness for Australian seamstresses

Ollie Pope in action for Surrey during the LV= Insurance County Championship Division I match against Hampshire. Credit: Getty Images/Ben Hoskins

After a quiet start at Old Trafford, Ollie Pope scored 91 goals in his second game of the season for Surrey. With Zach Crawley hitting the same mark in his first game and Ben Duckett becoming Nottinghamshire's first, all three top batsmen in England looked like a million dollars while their mid-level counterparts were making a million dollars in India.< /p>

Pope's 91 score might not sound like much compared to what he usually achieves at the Oval: ten centuries in his 33 first-class innings before that, which is the same conversion rate as Don Bradman on every pitch. But in this case, against a high-end seam attack, in wet April conditions, where the lush grass kept the new ball clean, it was the makings of a young master — also at number three, in the thick of things, not holding back at number four.

< p>Needless to say — albeit unfortunate — to say that the spin was only notable for its absence, but the standard of bowling on both sides was often Test class. Bowlers from Pakistan, South Africa and the West Indies — Mohammad Abbas, Kyle Abbott and Kemar Roach, as well as two more from Australia Dan Worrall and Sean Abbott — at times made the ball wobble, more than a seam, all over the oval. shop.

It could even be said that this championship game between last season's third-place title holders Surrey and Hampshire reached the pinnacle of ecclesiastical perfection, featuring the Pope and two Abbotts, with musical accompaniment accompanied by an organ . But the insults weren't as scathing as they were in the more heated moments at the Church Times Cup tournament.

Ollie Pope raises his bat half a century later. Photo: Getty Images/Ben Hoskins

The brunt of Surrey's response to Hampshire's 254 fell on Pope and remained on his shoulders until Sean Abbott lost 52 of 40, giving Surrey a slight lead. Other Surrey batsmen have come and gone, including two former England internationals hoping for a recall, Rory Burns and Dominic Sibley, and Pope was a class up like Ben Brown in Hampshire.

It may be a fine line between busyness and insanity, but Pope found it in his homeland; and running across the field, as Pope once did, saved him from an LBW trap. That footwork also earned him many runs as he blasted through the midwick off the field and on the ground while his partner Cameron Steele caught the ball into deep area. This will be one of the exciting features of the Ashes, will Pope be able to skip the field towards Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood or will he run into trouble?

Pope had time to run up to Abbas — and once to score a perfect four like Root — without leaving the crease before the bowler delivered. But Abbas, for all his many abilities, is only 80 miles per hour. If he runs 90 miles an hour like the Australians, Pope will have to leave early and they will see him coming.

Given the lateral movement for most of this game, Pope worked wonders by giving only two chances, and they were more misses than losses. Liam Dawson on the second miss missed a left hand when Pope hit four and a right hand shot when Pope hit 70, but if Dawson had caught them they would have been blind.

Dawson could be a five too. Tom Lowes, in his first over in both innings, knocked out Dawson in a knockout, the first time by an outswinger, the second time by a straight punch. Hampshire's top order fluctuated in both innings because their captain James Vince also repeated his mistake: when Sean Abbott faced three balls, he tried two weak forces from his back foot and nearly slipped.

Pope got too cute when he walked up to a hundred and started cutting. It was a defensive tactic against the old ball as he was running out of partners, but it was too ambitious when Abbas was re-equipped with a second new ball. Abbas went past the crease with an obvious inswinger, but Pope chose the cut and continued to cut.