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Young leg-spinner burns ex-Test star with stunning ball

Australia’s great leg-spin hope Lloyd Pope has taken his maiden first-class wicket with a beautiful wrong-un.

South Australia handed the 18-year-old prospect his debut against New South Wales in a rain-affected Sheffield Shield match at Adelaide Oval.

Pope shot to fame when he took an eight-wicket haul for Australia in an under-19 World Cup fixture last January.

But his first delivery in the Shield was hit for four runs by Blues veteran Moises Henriques, and at stumps on day one his figures read none for 26 off six overs.

NSW had reached 3-124 at stumps on Monday’s opening day and continued to struggle on Tuesday after more rain had delayed play.

Pope was made to wait for his first dismissal, but it was worth it as he struck with a flighted ball that drifted in slightly to NSW tailender Steven O’Keefe, pitching half-a-metre outside off-stump.

Lloyd Pope has taken a wicket on his first-class debut for South Australia. Pic: Getty
Lloyd Pope has taken a wicket on his first-class debut for South Australia. Pic: Getty

Then, it viciously spun back into the pads of the O’Keefe, who couldn’t get his bat anywhere near the ball and was out plumb lbw.

“It was a bit of plan to the tailenders, to try and turn the ball both ways a little bit more. It worked, I guess, so it’s pretty good,” Pope said.

Pope didn’t have to appeal for too long before the umpire’s finger went up – and the teenager was quickly ensconced by his teammates.

Being a wrist spinner, comparisons have naturally been made with Australia’s leggie legend Shane Warne.

“It was pretty ridiculous, a lot lot of people started coming out and giving their opinions,” Pope said.

“It is a little bit tricky to try and back yourself if you think something is going right, then you have got 100,000 people telling you’re not bowling well or blah blah blah.

“It was quite a different experience.”

Lloyd Pope spun a beautiful wrong-un to burn former Test star Steve O’Keefe. Pic: Cricket Australia
Lloyd Pope spun a beautiful wrong-un to burn former Test star Steve O’Keefe. Pic: Cricket Australia

Pope has met his idol Warne once, during an Adelaide Oval Test match when the retired Test star was commentating.

“It’s interesting to see what people say about that (comparison with Warne),” he said.

“I’m probably a little bit of a different bowler … I turn it a bit less than him and try and bowl a few more variations. There’s a few differences.”

Pope only started bowling leg-spin six years – he had been a jack-of-all-trades school cricketer, bowling medium-pacers and even trying wicketkeeping.

Then, mucking around in the nets, dad noticed him land a couple of experimental leggies.

“I just liked bowling it in the nets and got a bit of turn naturally when I first started,” he said.

“I managed to take a couple of wickets in my first game and it just went from there.”

The spin bowler otherwise suffered a harsh introduction to first-class cricket.

Pope went for two boundaries in his first over of the second day and had conceded two more either side of the O’Keefe wicket.

Trent Copeland’s fifty from No.10 took NSW to what became, given the conditions, an impressive first-innings total of 246.

Pope isn’t the only leg-spinner to emerge in the Australian ranks this week.

Marnus Labuschagne was picked for the Tests against Pakistan as a batsman but he has now taken five wickets in three innings.

The match in Abu Dhabi took a turn when Tim Paine threw the ball to the part-timer with 15 minutes left before tea.

Having convinced Paine to squander Australia’s final review with an ambitious lbw appeal three balls earlier, Labuschagne redeemed himself with the final ball of the session to trap Fakhar (94) in front and deny him a century on debut.

Sarfraz continued to spearhead a Pakistan counter-attack but also fell six runs short of a ton after lofting a Labuschagne delivery to Siddle at cover.

with AAP