Ollie Pope

Oliver John Douglas Pope (born 2 January 1998) is an English cricketer who plays internationally for England and in domestic cricket for Surrey. He is a right-handed batsman who sometimes plays as a wicket-keeper.

He attended Cranleigh School (he is the great great great great grandson of the school's first headmaster, Joseph Merriman) and played club cricket for both Guildford CC and Cranleigh CC. From a young age he was a member of the Surrey age group sides.

On 26 August 2016, Pope signed a two-year professional contract with Surrey. Two days later, he made his List A debut for Surrey in the semi-final of the 2016 Royal London One-Day Cup against Yorkshire.

He made his first-class debut on 28 March 2017 for Surrey against Oxford MCCU as part of the Marylebone Cricket Club University fixtures. Pope scored his maiden List A half-century on 7 May 2017 against Sussex. He made his Twenty20 debut for Surrey in the 2017 NatWest t20 Blast on 7 July 2017. Pope scored his maiden First Class against Hampshire at the end of the 2017 season.

During the 2017/18 winter, he was selected for the ECB's overseas placement programme in Australia whereby he played for Campbelltown-Camden District Cricket Club in the NSW Premier Cricket.Pope went on to score 994 runs, including 3 centuries, and even received a commendation in the New South Wales parliament for his on & off-field exploits from MP Chris Patterson, who is also the club's vice-president.He then had a breakout year in 2018 where he averaged 70 in Surrey's County Championship-winning campaign and was awarded the PCA Young Player of the Year award. Pope further supplemented this in the 2019 season, as he was the highest-scoring Surrey batsman in their first-class season with 812 runs at an average of 101 across only 9 innings.

In August 2018, he was added to England's squad for the second Test against India. He made his Test debut at Lord's for England against India on 9 August 2018. Later that season, Pope was selected for England's tour of Sri Lanka.However, having played no part in England's first Test, he was released from the tour in order to join up with the England Lions for their game against Pakistan A in the UAE.

During a strong 2019 season, Pope was called up as cover for Jason Roy before the 3rd Ashes Test at Headingley. Although Roy was eventually passed fit to play, this saw him back in the International picture and a month later he was called up to the England Test squad to face New Zealand. In the second Test at Hamilton, Pope made 75 runs in England's only innings. Pope then toured South Africa but missed the first test through illness. He then top scored in the first innings of the second test with 61* and then followed this up with his maiden Test century for England in the third Test against South Africa in Port Elizabeth.

On 29 May 2020, Pope was named in a 55-man group of players to begin training ahead of international fixtures starting in England following the COVID-19 pandemic. On 17 June 2020, Pope was included in England's 30-man squad to start training behind closed doors for the Test series against the West Indies. On 4 July 2020, Pope was named in England's thirteen-man squad for the first Test match of the series.