Ollie Pope believes Barmy Army's absence won't affect England; raring to get back on field

Middle-order batsman Ollie Pope feels that the absence of fans or the Barmy Army will not impact England's intensity as the international cricket nears resumption after the three-month-long break. England's three-match Test series against the West Indies will kick off on July 8 at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton in a bio-secure environment. With the world still in the midst of the battle with the coronavirus pandemic, no spectators will be allowed to watch the games, therefore putting both sides under tremendous pressure to play without the cheers. However, Pople feels that it will not hamper England's intensity and believes that the game would still go on as it used to before. 

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'Really up for it' 

Speaking to the media after England's intra-squad warm-up game,  Pope said that he was really up for playing the game without the Barmy Army and said that playing Test cricket was still a pinnacle & hence it wasn't going to affect the team in any manner. The middle-order batsman said that he was confident of the team's ability to create a comfortable atmosphere in the absence of fans by playing some music on the speakers in order to boost the energy of the side whenever required. Calling it a 'dream' to play a Test game, Pope said that it was something that cricketers always wanted to do and hence even without fans the 'nerves' will remain the same before the start of any game in the course of the match. 

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Talking about the warm-up games, Pope said that the team was moving in the right direction after having played some high-intensity and quality cricket against each other. Playing for Team Buttler, Pope made 55 runs with the bat in the second innings and 25 runs in the first. Speaking about the conditions at the Ageas Bowl, Pope said that the team did not know what to expect, in addition to the fact that the batsmen had danced to the tunes of quality bowling in 'spicy wickets' from the side's top bowlers in the absence of any net bowlers. 

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'Raise the Bat' series

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has named the series as 'Raise the Bat' to pay tribute to the key workers combating the pandemic. The national board has also informed that the players will be wearing key workers' names on shirts as a mark of respect. The first test of the series will commence on July 8 at the Ageas Bowl. The second and third test will be played at the Old Trafford subsequently, dates for which are July 16 and July 24. Both teams are currently playing practice matches. 

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