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Ollie Pope has accepted the responsibility of leading the dressing room with England after being appointed as the future Test captain.
Ben Stokes has been working without an official representative since taking over from Joe Root as captain, but the vastly experienced Stuart Broad was lined up as a short-term stand-in if needed late in the summer.
Now it appears Pope has been fast-tracked into a more influential role, taking charge of the team while Stokes opted to sit out England’s two-day warm-up against a New Zealand XI in Hamilton this week.
The 25-year-old performed a similar task against the English Lions in Abu Dhabi in November and has been increasingly vocal over the years.
While he has yet to be officially appointed vice-captain ahead of Thursday’s series opener at Mount Maunganui, Broad himself seems more than happy to pass the baton to a friend he believes is growing.
“I think Popey is a great leader,” Broad said. “He speaks well of the group, he’s got a good cricketing mind and there’s no doubt you can see him as England captain in the future.”
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Stuart Broad described Brendon McCullum’s strategy from the Trent Bridge Test in the summer to ‘never look for a draw’ as the first sign of England’s rise.
The Surrey batter was more cautious but admittedly relishing the opportunity he had to play.
“There’s no title at the moment – I’m just going to help where I can,” Pope said. “There’s no label, but maybe it’s an option we’ll look at in the future. It’s just good to be seen as a leader in the dressing room.
“Stokesy is the captain, he knows exactly how he wants to open, but he turns up and sometimes challenges ideas from me, and he will do the same with some of the experienced guys in the dressing room.
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Brendon McCullum admits he has no idea how good Ben Stokes will be as England captain as the squad prepares for the first Test against New Zealand.
“Baz (Brendon) McCullum and Stokesy have been great. They’ve allowed us young players to grow and I think each of us feels that’s where our team is today.
“I’ll just keep developing that cricket brain and if it happens in the future, great, I’ll make sure I learn as much as I can beforehand. In number three to keep doing it. If I can keep impressing there, who knows what the future holds?”
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Relive England’s red football epic last summer under new captain Ben Stokes and new head coach Brendon McCullum as the pair led the team to six wins from seven.
Pope likes to be promoted in England
The Pope’s elevation represents another faith in players who struggled to find a foothold in international cricket under the previous regime. He shuffled up and down in order, also in and out of the team, and never managed enough to deliver on the obvious potential.
He feared he would not be part of Stokes’ plans last year, but was called upon to make the crucial No.3 position. Like many others in the current squad, he appears to be a freer and more successful player on the field and has paid back his support with centuries at Trent Bridge and Rawalpindi.
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England cricketer Ollie Pope came very close to an incredible goal during his appearance on Soccer AM last October
“But as long as the difficult times have been, and it feels like it’s been a long time, I think it’s allowed me to get to where I am now,” Pope said. “As a batting unit, we are not afraid to come out now.
“I’ve been worried about our technique for a long time and worried about how the bowlers are going to bowl us out. Stokesy and Baz have been top drawer in terms of simplifying Test cricket for all of us. At the end of the day, it’s the ball coming to you. Don’t worry about head position, your hands all the time.”
England play a day-night test against New Zealand at Mount Maunganui on February 16-20 before the second Test in Wellington on February 24-28.
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