England players pull a prank on Ollie Pope during live interview
England batsman Ollie Pope fell victim to a prank pulled by fellow England players during a live interview. Even though the youngster had locked himself in his room, Ollie Pope's team members took the opportunity to make life as difficult as possible for him.
The incident happened a day before the first Test against Pakistan. The English middle-order batsman was engaged in a live interview with Sky Sports during the innings break of England’s third ODI against Ireland.
“Sorry I can hear some of the lads next door knocking on the wall, they’ve obviously got the TV on,” Ollie Pope said after banging was heard during the broadcast.
Former England batsman Mark Butcher, who was on air for Sky Sports, tried to help the youngster out after his landline started ringing continuously. He asked Ollie Pope to take the phone off the hook or pull the cord out of the wall.
Ollie Pope got the last jab from Nick Knight
It finally came out that the lead prankster was none other than Chris Woakes, who is generally known to be the ‘nicest cricketer’ around. This was revealed when he started calling Ollie Pope’s phone, interrupting the interview.
“These boys are giving me a lot of… I can see Chris Woakes trying to call me on my phone, it’s not good,” said Ollie Pope.
Finally, when the Surrey batsman thought he had somehow managed to complete the interview, the final jab came from former England international Nick Knight, who was in the commentary team.
“You’re quite busy by the sounds of it,” Nick Knight signed off.
Ollie Pope made his Test debut against India in 2018. The 22-year-old has one century and four half-centuries in 10 Test matches so far and he is part of the England team currently playing against Pakistan at Old Trafford.