We’ll keep the spirits high, it’s a long tour: Ollie Pope on pathetic Day-1 for England in Ashes Test

Ollie Pope the only English batter along with Jos Buttler to put some sense into the team batting on the first day of the first Ashes Test at the Gabba said that his team is disappointed, but not at all down as it was just the first day of the tour and only one team has batted so far. Pope believes that there is a lot of time left and England will keep their spirits high and try and make a comeback. 

"I wouldn't look too much at the toss. We just had to execute in the first couple of hours of the game. We had the quality in the side to score the runs we needed. We'll keep fighting and we have to see both sides bat on this wicket. We don't know how it's going to react tomorrow and we'll come back stronger,” Pope said at the end of the Day-1 press conference in Brisbane. 

"It wasn't the end result we wanted. We're not going to get too down about it but it's a disappointing start. It's a long tour and a long series. We'll keep the spirits high and come back fighting tomorrow,” added the 23-year-old who played in place of Jonny Bairstow in the first Test. 

Talking about the first ball dismissal of Rory Burns, which has happened only twice in 144-year-old history cricket that a player has got out on the very first ball fo five-match Test series, Pope said, "I wouldn't say it (Burns' wicket) created panic at all because you have to stay calm but it wasn't the ideal start.”

His own batting was something that England could look forward to in the second innings. Pope scored 35 of 79 balls but was disappointed that he couldn’t convert it into a big score.

"I like to come with a lot of intent and want to move the scoreboard along, especially if the ball is in my area. I think a situation like that leant itself to that too. You need to get your runs on the board. Jos came in and played nicely and it's just frustrating neither of us could go on and get a bigger score,” Pope said. 

England were bundled out for 147 in 50 overs on the first day but were lucky enough that Australia didn’t get to bat as rain played spoilsport and no play was possible after the first innings.