Battle-hardened Pope ready for Ashes furnace

OLLIE Pope believes he is more prepared than ever for the hostility of an Ashes series after fighting hard for his England place for the past year.

- By RORY DOLLARD

Ollie Pope takes on England's young Lions side in Australia

The surprise emergence of Jacob Bethell on the last winter’s New Zealand tour turned up the heat on Pope and he has faced near constant scrutiny ever since.

Centuries against Zimbabwe and India in his first two innings of the summer looked to shore up his spot, but diminishing returns in the subsequent months and the decision to remove Pope as vice-captain in September kept the debate alive.

Pope finally settled the matter by reeling off confident knocks of 100 and 90 in the three-day warm-up against England Lions and can be all but certain of facing the Australians at Perth’s Optus Stadium this Friday.

The intensity of the occasion cannot be underestimated, but he feels the constant speculation he has been under will stand him in good stead.