Young Englishman Ollie Pope’s had time of his life playing for Ghosts

Ollie Pope is a young English cricketer on the rise who has called Minto home for the past few months.

The wicketkeeper batsman flew to Australia for the very first time to join Campbelltown Camden Ghosts for the 2017-18 Sydney Premier Cricket season.

He has scored almost 1,000 runs, including three brilliant centuries, but Pope says that improving his cricket wasn’t the overriding reason he came Down Under.

“I did set some goals regarding technical aspects of cricket but mainly I came here to learn to manage by myself for things like getting myself to the gym three times a weeks,’’ he tells the South West Voice in Macarthur.

“I just wanted to become a better person and a better cricketer.

“It was more about learning to be independent and disciplined than anything else, but I have to say that my keeping has improved.’’

Pope was 19 when he arrived in Australia at the start of the season and turned 20 on January 2.

There were no shortage of relatives, including a couple of cousins and family friends, to help young Pope celebrate his birthday.

[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“Yeah, it feels like home having all these relatives and even some mates here and it’s why I haven’t really got homesick,’’ he says.[/social_quote]

Pope says he was a little surprise there wasn’t as much sledging in grade cricket as he expected.

“The wickets were also a little slower than I expected, and being a Pom I thought I would get sledged a lot more than I did,’’ he said.

“But overall I have loved my time with the Campbelltown Camden Ghosts.’’

All good things in life must end some time, so next Monday Ollie Pope will get on a plane and leave Australia behind.

It means he will miss the Ghosts’ last home and away match on March 10 at Raby against fellow finals contender Sydney University

And if the Ghosts go on and make the finals Pope will also miss that, and he says that’s the only disappointing thing about his experience Down Under.

“Yeah, that would have been nice but unfortunately I have other commitments and have to leave on Monday,’’ he said.

But there’s one more innings to go this Saturday against Mosman at Allan Border Oval and the Ghosts will be hoping Pope makes it one to remember.

And so does he.

“I do hope I can finish well on Saturday to help the Ghosts one last time.’’