If you’ve been anywhere near anyone with a cursory knowledge of Australian cricket recently, you’ve no doubt heard them utter the name “Lloyd Pope” with a lustful quiver of the lip.
[jwplayer ufxzSg8Y]
Pope, aged just 18 years old, is a leg spinning prodigy who has been making waves in the cricket world by running through junior batting lineups like a hot knife through butter, largely fuelled by a wrong’un so vicious that all footage of it should carry an MA15+ rating.
Recently, that form has carried over to first class-level cricket, after the red-headed wunderkind made his Sheffield Shield debut this season for South Australia, and utterly annihilated Queensland by taking 7/87 in just his second match last week. Cop the highlights immediately.
While calls to immediately elevate him into the flailing Australian side might be somewhat premature, fans salivating over the truly absurd amount of turn the Young Pope can achieve won’t have to wait long to see him on the national stage.
The Sydney Sixers have this morning announced the Holy Bowler has signed with the side for the upcoming Big Bash League season, marking the first time the apparent next great hope for Australian bowling will appear on the national stage at senior level.
✍️CONFIRMED! We’ve signed teenage spin prodigy Lloyd Pope!
Details here > https://t.co/tsyZR79QoJ#smashemsixers #blessed pic.twitter.com/Bvg6xycuSJ
— Sydney Sixers (@SixersBBL) November 7, 2018
The Sixers’ season opener comes against perennial good side Perth Scorchers on December 22nd. Whether Pope gets any serious game time remains to be seen, but if he does: Watch the hell out.
Extremely keen for Pope to eventually find his way into the national side so he can bump Shane Warne down to the fourth-best spin bowler in modern Australian history (MacGill > Lyon > Warne do not at me about this).
