As he prepares to get a taste of the conditions in BBL|14, Ollie Pope is eyeing a big Ashes in Australia next year

Ollie Pope’s realisation of a childhood ambition to be part of Australia’s Big Bash League doesn’t quite obscure the bigger picture of England’s bolder aspiration to reclaim the Ashes here in a year’s time.

Pope arrived in Adelaide yesterday not-quite-so-fresh from England’s 2-1 Test series triumph in New Zealand and will make his BBL debut for Adelaide Strikers in tomorrow night’s meeting with Melbourne Stars at Adelaide Oval.

It will be the keeper-batter’s second appearance at the venue after the second Test of the 2021-22 Ashes where he contributed scores of 5 and 4 amid England’s equally forgettable 0-4 series defeat.

But less than 12 months out from the next Ashes battle that begins at Perth Stadium on November 21, Pope believes England will field a far more formidable outfit and not only because of their hyper-aggressive ‘Bazball’ batting approach.

As was witnessed recently in New Zealand where they deployed a battery of tall, aggressive fast bowlers who hit both pitch and bat at speed, they will likely field a markedly different pace attack to the veteran-class of the 2021-22 campaign.

Rather than now-retired duo James Anderson (then 39), Stuart Broad (then 35), Chris Woakes (now 35) and Ollie Robinson (31), England will be looking to unleash Brydon Carse (currently 29), Gus Atkinson and Matthew Potts (both 26).

Throw in England’s two fastest bowlers Mark Wood (now 34) and Jofra Archer (29) who have battled injuries in recent years, and rising talents such as 27-year-old Josh Tongue (who made his Ashes debut at Lord’s in 2023) and the visitors will potentially bring firepower not seen in Australia since the West Indies of four decades ago.

With Carse (18 at 17.6) and Atkinson (12 at 24.9) the team’s leading wicket-takers on not-dissimilar surfaces in NZ, and noting the ongoing struggles of Australia’s top-order batters against India pace ace Jasprit Bumrah, Pope has reason for his confidence.

“There’s a number of things that weren’t quite right last time around,” he told reporters at Adelaide Oval today referring to the 2021-22 Ashes which was England’s third consecutive winless Ashes visit to Australia.

“We’re obviously trying to build a bowling attack to cater for these kind of pitches, where it’s shown you do need that pace.

“But at the same time, I look at my own game and the cricketer I was then compared to the cricketer I am now, I feel like I’m 10 times the player I was then.

“As an all-round team we’re a much stronger unit, it’s not just the bowlers.

“The batters as well, we’re obviously playing the game in a slightly different way trying to be as positive as we can and it’s not always going to come off.

“But looking forward to that Ashes, it will be a good way of putting the Aussies under a lot more pressure than we did last time because we weren’t quite up to it then.”

The new-look bowling line-up also adheres to the ‘Bazball’ batting method employed by coach Brendon McCullum and skipper Ben Stokes, with Atkinson (who already boasts one century from 11 Tests) and Carse leading the strike rates in NZ at better than a run-per-ball.

But it is the pace and bounce the duo, along with Potts, were able to find in NZ that presented a marked contrast to the previous plans of Anderson, Broad and Woakes who were genuine swing and seam bowlers and found the going tough in Australia once the Kookaburra ball lost its shine and hardness.

“You look at the bowlers and look at the bowling attack we want to be having come 12 months down under, and we’re clearly picking guys that are going to be suited to that (type of) pitch and getting the best out of them,” Pope said.

“Whether that be in New Zealand with guys like Carse and Potts and Gus Atkinson, they can be the same guys that do well in England too.

“Then hopefully the guys that lead the attack out here, including Jofra (Archer) and Mark Wood.

“Hopefully we can keep them fit throughout the year (and) … come a year’s time it would be a really exciting prospect.”

Pope came under fire for his dismissal on the final day of the NZ series – an ill-judged attempted reverse ramp off Matt Henry that smashed into his off stump – but reiterated that sort of 360-degree shot-making will characterise his BBL batting with the Strikers.

The 26-year-old, who captained England’s Test outfit in Stokes’s absence earlier this year, recalled his first memories of watching cricket were rising early in England during Christmas-New Year period of his childhood to tune into the BBL on television.

Pope will keep wicket (as he did in all three Tests against NZ) and bat in the middle-order for the Strikers who have lost West Indies signing Fabian Allen to a hamstring injury suffered in their season-opening loss to Sydney Thunder last Tuesday.

He will also provide important insights for Strikers’ bowlers heading into tomorrow night’s match against the Stars, with his England Test teammate and destructive opener Ben Duckett also earmarked for his first outing of BBL|14.

“We said we were going to spray each other, but I don’t think you can take it too seriously,” Pope said.

“He (Duckett) is a really good player, he’s had a really good year in red and white-ball and is a difficult guy to set fields to.

“So I’ll try to give the guys a little bit of info on where he’s going to look to hit the ball – pretty square of the wicket which is obvious, but it should be a good little rivalry.”

KFC BBL|14 standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Ties T	No results N/R	Net Run Rate NRR	Deductions Ded.	Total points PTS
1 Perth Scorchers Men SCO	1	1	0	0	0	1.438	0	2
2 Brisbane Heat Men HEA	1	1	0	0	0	0.872	0	2
3 Sydney Sixers Men SIX	1	1	0	0	0	0.847	0	2
4 Sydney Thunder Men THU	1	1	0	0	0	0.205	0	2
5 Hobart Hurricanes Men HUR	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
6 Adelaide Strikers Men STR	1	0	1	0	0	-0.205	0	0
7 Melbourne Renegades Men REN	1	0	1	0	0	-0.847	0	0
8 Melbourne Stars Men STA	2	0	2	0	0	-1.158	0	0

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

T: Ties

N/R: No results

NRR: Net Run Rate

Ded.: Deductions

PTS: Total points

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