Ollie Pope (who is keeping) and Jamie Overton (Adelaide Strikers) versus Ben Duckett and Tom Curran (Melbourne Stars) this morning
Was it the plan for Pope to keep in the Big Bash, as after Jamie Smith took the England gloves from his Surrey teammate Foakes, there could be a future Surrey battle for the England gloves between Smith and Pope.
The Strikers have Harry Nielsen (son of Tim who, like Harry, kept for South Australia), who played in the first game but doesn't have the pedigree of Pope with the bat and Alex Carey who will, no doubt, take the gloves when he returns from Test duty. I see Pope as a stop gap rather than someone who will get the England gig permanently though we won't truly know how good he is until such time as he gets to keep, standing up, on turning tracks.
Bethell is making his Big Bash debut in a matter of minutes and Pope and Duckett will be playing for their respective teams. So much for our boys being fatigued from the NZ tour and desperate to get home!
"Guys, we've been watching how you've been batting in the 3rd Test, and you need to calm it down. Those funky shots are ok in Test cricket, but this is T20, the proper stuff, where you need to knuckle down a bit."
Pope has just got out, caught behind, trying to ramp Peter Siddle.
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