English batter Ollie Pope was a shining light on a dark day in Brisbane for England. (Photo: ICC/Twitter)
England had a rough first day at the Gabba, but batter Ollie Pope believes they’ll come out fighting on Day 2.
Pope was one of only a few shining lights amongst the England batting group, scoring the second-most runs (35) for his country on the day.
He had consolidating partnerships with Jos Buttler and Haseeb Hameed. However, the Poms eventually finished the first day of the Ashes all out for 147.
The young batter said post game that the pitch did offer a bit for the bowlers, but was still disappointed with their first innings.
“We’re frustrated as a unit, but we’re not going to get too down. It’s a long tour, a long series, so we’re going to come out fighting tomorrow,” Pope said.
He had to come in fairly early, with England in dire straits at 4/30 after only 13 overs. Pope said the bounciness of the Gabba wicket and the movement were the major factors in the dismissals early on.
“When they do bowl at the pace they do, all it’s got to do is nip a little bit and it does drag you into the shot that you don’t always have to play,” he said.
“That probably was the cause of quite a few of the wickets and there’s the adjustments on a Day 1 Gabba pitch that we didn’t make quickly enough.”
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He was also happy with his efforts despite coming in with his country in deep trouble.
“Personally I always like to come with a lot of intent, I always want to move the scoreboard along, especially if the ball is in my area and I think a situation like that you need to get your runs on the board.”
His main partner, Jos Buttler, was England’s best batter, scoring 39 of 58 runs. Pope added he was impressed with one of the best in the white ball game.
“He’s ridiculously talented, we saw what he did in the World Cup and he took a little bit of that white ball form into today,” he said.
“At the time it took the pressure off nicely, it took the pressure off me and suddenly the scoreboard was ticking along pretty well.”
Pope added if they had gotten through the first two hours of the game unscathed, they could’ve been in a better position.
“If we had managed to get through that first two hours one down, then we could’ve made the most with the softer ball on a slower pitch today.”
Play restarts at 11am AEDT tomorrow morning, with Australia in to bat.
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