Waugh urges patience with Pope

Leg spinner Lloyd Pope is poised to claim another small slice of cricket history tomorrow, but former Test captain Steve Waugh – a keen observer of the young bowler's rapid rise – has called for a calming of expectations around the teen talent.

On the strength of his record-setting 7-87 in last week's Sheffield Shield match against Queensland, Pope will become the youngest player to represent South Australia in a Shield fixture on the MCG when he takes to the famous turf against Victoria from tomorrow.

At 18 years and 336 days, he will be a handful of days younger than former opening bat Tony Handrickan who appeared at Australia cricket's most revered venue at the height of the World Series Cricket split in December, 1977.

However, the Handrickan tale also echoes the need for caution, which Waugh has highlighted.

A prodigious junior talent who – like Pope – starred in his second Shield game when he scored a century against a New South Wales team that featured Test bowlers Len Pascoe, David Colley and Graeme Watson (as well as Allan Border), Handrickan was gone from SA's team by that summer's end.

After overcoming a knee injury sustained in a fielding mishap and dominating at grade level, he was set to return to Shield ranks in 1982 until he was charged with being drunk and disorderly during the Adelaide Oval Test of that season and axed from the SA squad, never to play again.

Pathway programs for junior cricketers have evolved markedly over the intervening 35 years, but the hype that accompanies the emergence of an exceptional young player has also increased exponentially and Waugh fears those touting Pope as a Test-cricketer-in-waiting risk doing him a grave disservice.

Waugh witnessed many of Pope's on-field deeds at junior level over recent years, when the gifted wrist spinner was a teammate of the ex-Test skipper's son, Austin, in Australia teams at numerous competitions, including this year's under-19 World Cup in New Zealand.

Waugh believes that while the teenage tweaker announced himself as capable of succeeding at first-class level with his first-innings haul against the reigning Shield champions, the challenge Pope faces to prosper in that company was revealed by his second innings return of 0-101 from 34 overs.

"People would have watched (his) seven wickets, probably four or five of those with a wrong-un (but) from here-on in it's going to get a lot tougher," Waugh told cricket.com.au last week.

"I think everyone's got to calm down, give the kid a bit of breathing space.

"He's learning his craft, and he's no doubt a talent – he's got a fantastic wrong-un that's now not a secret any more.

"Twenty years ago there wasn't the same analysis.

"You can bet the next Shield side is going to be looking at every ball that he bowled, and see where he bowls his wrong-un from – does he bowl from a different part of the crease, how many times an over does he bowl it, do we attack him in a different way?

"But I'm sure he's got the capability of overcoming that."

Image Id: C3F617D026B04A2B9A5A64B12B0C7887 Image Caption: Teammates swamp Lloyd Pope // Getty Images

Waugh's view was endorsed by Queensland batter Sam Heazlett in the wake of his match-saving 118 not out in the second innings against SA, during which the left-handed faced 356 deliveries and rarely appeared troubled by Pope's wrist spin.

"Facing him over after over, you get used to it," said Heazlett of Pope's bowling, of which he was one of seven victims in the Bulls' first innings.

"Most of us could pick his wrong 'un ... it just turned a long way.

"It was just being able to figure out how much it was actually going to turn, because his leggie doesn't go that far and the wrong 'un goes a bit further."

Waugh said that amid the stark realities posed for Australian cricket after the ball-tampering scandal, and in light of indifferent on-field performances of late by the men's team across all formats, the emergence of quality leg spinners in most current Shield teams was a positive sign.

However, he also noted the difficulties that faced young players being asked to learn their games and sharpen their craft under the intense scrutiny of cricket at first-class level.

The 53-year-old was an established presence on the domestic and international circuit when Shane Warne was fast-tracked into Test ranks after just five Shield appearances, in which he had claimed 11 wickets at an average of 41.36.

From his two Shield games to date, Pope has nine wickets at 32.55.

On his elevation to Australia's Test team, Warne famously struggled and finished with 1-150 against an India line-up raised on a diet of spin bowling, before then developing into the most successful leg spinner the game has witnessed.

Waugh was not a member of Australia's Test team when Warne debuted, having himself experienced a giddy rise to the elite level as a highly touted young player only to find the deficiencies in his game ruthlessly exposed and exploited by opposing teams which led to him being dropped.

The veteran of 168 Tests and 325 one-day internationals believes his experience serves as another salutary tale highlighting the pitfalls associated with promoting players before they have properly developed the tools to cope with, and prosper in, such a searching environment.

"I was thrown in (Australia's Test team) at age 20 and I'd only played five or six (Shield) games, and realistically looking back I wasn't ready," Waugh told cricket.com.au.

"I don't regret that opportunity because people like (South Australia's) Jamie Siddons and (Tasmania's) Jamie Cox never got a chance to play for Australia, and (Queensland pair) Stuart Law and Martin Love and all these great players only played one or two Tests.

"So I can never say the opportunity wasn't a great opportunity, but looking back, 20 is very young unless you are mentally very strong.

"And that's really up to the selectors, they have to analyse that.

"You can't just pick a player on his talent, you have to find out a bit more about the person and maybe we haven't done that enough in recent selection, actually know the people we're picking."